Niko Globe Flush Mount

Materials: Round dark brown Bakelite ceiling mount. White opal glass globe lampshade. Porcelain and Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 16 cm / 6.29”

Globe: 12,5 cm / 4.92”

Base: 9,5 cm / 3.74”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb with an E27 screw base can be used, not a specific one preferred. However, white or frosted bulbs gives the most beautiful result in combination with opal glass.

Period: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Bo-Niko, Industriepark West, 40, 9100 Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. Part of Niko NV. 

Other versions: This Niko globe flush mount or wall lamp was also made in a bigger version for lamps with 60 watt light bulbs.

The glass globe was produced by the glass factory De Rupel.

This lamp has the name Niko moulded in the Bakelite. Other lamps have the Bo-Niko name. Is this lamp made before the Bo-Niko company was founded, or after? Do you have an idea? Please let us know through the contact form and help improve the websites exactitude. Your help is much appreciated.

The design of this Niko globe flush mount is unclear. Globe lamps exist for a long time. However, Wilhelm Wagenfeld designed a simple globe lamp such as this one (model WV 46) in the 1920s during the Bauhaus period for the Staatliche Bauhochschule Weimar, the State University of Applied Sciences Weimar. Since then, almost every light company produced similar lamps.

Bo-Niko

Bo-Niko is part of Niko. Niko is the biggest electric components company from Belgium since decades. The firm was established shortly after World War 1 in 1919 by the two brothers Alphonse and Werner De Backer in Sint-Niklaas, Belgium. The duo first started their business as a bicycle chain producer before they switched to porcelain switches and sockets.

The name Niko is derived from the town where the company is located: Sint-Niklaas: Saint-Nicolas. Sint-Niko-Laas in old Flemish.

In 1962 Niko started with luminaires and founded the Bo-Niko company. It was an instant success. A new factory was opened to meet the demand. In 1972 the company moved from the centre of the city to an industrial area near the highway E17 from Antwerp to Ghent. 

Today Jo De Backer is the CEO of Niko, Jo is the grandson of one of the founders. Whatever happened with the Bo-Niko company is unclear, Niko does not produce luminaires anymore. The core business of Niko is household switches, sockets, home automation and energy solutions.