1970s Fase Spiral Table Lamp

Materials: Chromed metal (iron) round spring base. White opal oval glass globe lampshade on top. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 60 cm / 11.81”

Width: ∅ 30 cm / 23.62”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 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: Ingo Maurer.

Manufacturer: Fase, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain.

Other versions: This 1970s Fase spiral table lamp was also made with clear glass. The oval globe was used for another lamp, as you can see in the catalogue picture. The Fase name of this lamp is Galaxia.

Ingo Maurer

Many companies produced spiral lamps. The first one and at least one of the most famous lamps is the lamp designed by Ingo Maurer and produced by his company M-Design. Often said that it is a lamp from the 1970s, but it was designed and produced for the first time in the late 1960s. His spiral lamp is copied many times, also many variations were made, beware!

This 1970s Fase spiral table lamp or spring lamp is one of the best made copies or is it a Ingo Maurer lamp made in Spain? It is almost similar. It has the same dimensions and the chrome mount for the globe is the same. Other spring table lamps have a clumsy/plum mount and often a round opal globe.

The 1970s Fase spiral table lamp appears for the first time in the 1974-1975 catalogue, as you can see below.

In 1971 Heinz Brenker (pseudonym used by Studio Tecnico Interno Harvey Guzzini from 1958 until 1974) designed a spiral table lamp named Jo-Jo for Harvey Guzzini. It was in production from 1972 until 1974.

Angelo Mangiarotti designed several spiral spring lamps for the Italian Candle in the 1970s. Candle is part of Fontana Arte.

Other producers that made this type of lamps in the 1970s are, amongst others:
Elco Lite, Woja, Luciano Frigerio, Sciolari Illuminazione, Lumi, Targetti, Laurel, Sonneman, Bonomi Form, Inter Néo, Massive, Staff, AV Mazzega and so on.

Of course also Massive from Belgium produced a spiral table lamp, you can find it over here on Vintageinfo.

A German Staff version can be found over here.

Fase

The Fase company was founded by self-made man Pedro Martin and designer Luis Pérez de la Oliva in 1964, some sources say 1966. The Boomerang lamp was one of their first designs. Initially they sold their self-produced lamps to the markets in and around the capital Madrid before successfully opening a factory in Torrejón de Ardoz on the outskirts of the city.

They produced mainly lamps, but also ashtrays and other products such as office bins and coat racks.

Fase supplied many lamps to the offices of General Franco‘s dictatorial government and the Guardia Civil, some sort of military police. From 1975 on, after the death of Franco and the end of the regime, Fase started with Italian Modern and Bauhaus-inspired designs. The Spaniards were unfamiliar with this design because of the Franco regime that ruled the country with an iron fist and allowed few foreign influences.

During the 70s Fase exported lamps to Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg,  Great Britain, Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Hong Kong, Morocco, the United States and Canada. In total in more than 32 countries.

1980s

In the 1980s Fase jumped on the bandwagon of the halogen lighting. The break with tradition proved unsuccessful and ultimately contributed to the end of the business. A large fine of the Treasury in the early nineties for tax irregularities was the end for Fase. The company was officially dissolved in 1996.

Drowned, the company sold its manufacturing license to a German brand, Ma-Of, which slightly modified the original design by adding more chrome. Before these final death rattles, the partners had already separated. Luis Pérez de la Oliva had created his own brand Lupela, another flagship of Spanish design. GEI (Gabinete Estudios Industriales – Cabinet Industrial Studies) was another company that sold similar lamps. Also Massive from Belgium produced a few lamps in this style.

When the company stopped producing them abruptly, there was a lot of ‘stock’ available in the warehouses. That’s why you find relatively many lamps with a label attached. Many lamps are sold new and never used in the box (NOS – New Old Stock).

Designers

Designers who have worked for the company include: Gabriel Teixidó. He designed the Iberia and Meca series and Tomás Díaz Magro, responsible for the Apolo, Minifase and Impala lamps. The most productive was Luis Pérez de la Oliva, who designed the majority of the Fase lamps.

Fase also sold lamps made by others such as the Yamada Shomei ‘Manon’ table lamp from Japan. You can find it over here on Vintageinfo. The Prisma table lamp was produced in Italy by F.A.A.I. Arredo. Also the Sinus stacking ashtray made by Helit from Germany. A design by Walter Zeischegg from 1967. You can find it here in the MoMA, New York. The also sold lamps from other companies.