1970s Cascading Bubble Glass Chandelier

Materials: 5 thick chrome tubes. 5 round crystal clear embossed bubble glass lampshades. Black painted spider ceiling mount. Ornamental chrome screw. Some plastic parts. Bakelite E27 sockets.

Cord Length: 30 – 80 cm / 11.81 – 31.49” – adjustable

Height Lamps: 21 cm / 8.26”

Width Lamps: ∅ 10 cm / 3.93”

Spider Ceiling Mount: ∅ 33 cm / 12.99”

Electricity: 5 bulbs E27, 5 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: VEB NARVA Leuchtenbau, Lengefeld, Germany – attributed.

Other versions: This 1970s cascading bubble glass chandelier exists all probability in several versions.

This lamp is very similar with the bubble glass lamp series made by the West German Staff company. An example can be found here.

Attributed to the VEB Leuchtenbau company from Lengefeld. But it could be another state owned lighting company from East Germany. The Lengefeld company is the most likely.

VEB NARVA Leuchtenbau

The VEB NARVA Leuchtenbau company was founded in 1900 as Wittig und Schwabe Metalldruckwarenfabriken (Metal Printing Factories), Lengefeld.

Right after World War II in 1946, the name changed into VEB Leuchtenbau, as every almost every light company in the GDR did. In 1963 they manufactured some 1.5 million lamps, of which 80% were exported. In 1965 they produced 120 different models of lamps.

One of the most famous lamps produced by VEB Leuchtenbau is the Kontrast floor lamp, designed by Lutz Rudolf in 1961. The manufacturer himself doubted the success of “this thing” and planned only a small number of pieces.

However, the production was carried through until 1975, in which 11,000 pieces were produced. The GDR citizens at that time were fortunate that the product landed mainly on the domestic East German market, which was not the case with all the design objects. Despite colourfully designed variants, the majority of customers opted for the original, simple-white design of the lampshades of this floor lamp.

Designers that worked for VEB Leuchtenbau companies were, among others: Peter Beyer, Udo Domröse, Klaus Neubert, Andreas Kuhnhardt, Theo Schröder, Hans-Jürgen Weiß, Christian Wagner…