Habitat Capsule Table Lamp – Labels

Habitat Capsule Table Lamp

Materials: Clear indigo, dark blue glass, white on the inside (incamiciato). White plastic. White plastic E14 socket.

Height: 30 cm / 11.81”

Width: ∅ 12 cm / 4.72”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred. 

Period: 1990s – 2000s.

Designer: Jonas Damon in the late 1990s.

Manufacturer: Habitat Retail Ltd, 489-499 Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, MK9 2NW, United Kingdom. 

Other versions: The Habitat Capsule table lamp exists in many colours. it is made in a capsule pill style, but reversed.

The Habitat Capsule table lamp has many similarities with the iittala Lantern candle holder designed by Harri Koskinen (1970) in 1999. In 2013 a lamp version was created: the Northern Light.

Habitat

Habitat Retail Ltd, trading as Habitat is a retailer of household furnishings. Sir Terence Conran (1931 – 2020) founded the company in London in 1964, together with his wife and some friends. Among others, Spanish designer Paul Mayén (1916 – 2000). The business expanded quickly and in 1973 the first store in Europe was opened in Paris, France. The company expanded and merged frequently over the years. Habitat was acquired by the Ikano Group, (originally a part of IKEA) in 1992 and reinvested in its brand in 1997 and asked designer Tom Dixon to rebuild its in-house design team. Jonas Damon became the Design Manager of the company. He was responsible for lighting, kitchen accessories, and home accessories.

In 2011 the company almost went bankrupt. In April 2016, Home Retail Group agreed to a 1,6 billion Euro takeover by UK retailer Sainsbury’s.

Habitat is not a lighting producer, this lamp was produced in China for the English company, as labelled.

Incamiciato: Italian word. Overlay lattimo glass (= milky looking glass) with a layer of transparent coloured glass.

The label on the right is the price label for Belgium in francs and euros. Very common in the years before and after the transition in Europe to the euro currency. 1 euro is/was 40.33 francs. 

Often sold as a vintage lamp from the 1960s, but those are false assumptions.