Thomas Alva Edison Pendant Lamp

Materials: Hand blown frosted glass lampshade. Chrome screw thread part on top. Second chrome screw thread with black plastic. Half round black plastic canopy. Metal rod and parts. Silver painted Bakelite E27 socket.

Cord: 100 cm / 39.37”

Height: 38 cm / 14.96”

Width: ∅ 22 cm / 8.66”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 75 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s, 1980s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Ingo Maurer in 1979.

Manufacturer: Design M, today named: Ingo Maurer GmbH, Kaiserstrasse 47, 80801 München.

Other versions: The Thomas Alva Edison pendant lamp was also made in a floor lamp version with a switch on cord.

Designed in 1979 for the 100th anniversary of the invention of the light bulb by Thomas Alva Edison in 1879. (The light bulb was already invented in 1806 by Humphry Davy)

Several other companies made bulb lamps, you can find a few in the links below.

Ingo Maurer

Ingo Maurer was born May 12, 1932 on the Island of Reichenau, Bodensee (Lake Constance), Germany. He was trained as a typographer in Germany and in Switzerland.

Ingo Maurer studied graphic design from 1954 until 1958. In 1960 he migrated to the USA and lived and worked in New York and San Francisco as a freelance designer. In 1963 Maurer returned to Germany and settled in Munich where he died on October 12, 2019.

Design M.

In 1966 he founded his company Design M. and his first lamp was born: Bulb. Maurer received several design awards. His most well known lamps are on display in several museums such as the MoMA in New York.

He designed the Bulb table lamp in 1966 and the Gulp desk lamp in 1969. The Light Structure pendant lamp as co-designer in 1970. His Little Black Nothing pendant lamp and the YaYaHo low-voltage halogen system in 1988.

More recent lamps are: the Los Minimalos Dos desk lamp, the Lucellino Wall wall lamp, Wo bist Du, Edison…? pendant lamp, the Zettel’z chandelier, all in 1999. The Porca Miseria! chandelier dates from 2003.

In 2011 Ingo Maurer received the Compasso d‘Oro for lifetime achievement, awarded by the ADI (Italian Association for Industrial Design). He received numerous awards over the years.