Acrylic Globe Pendant Lamp
Materials: Two shells of translucent smoked brown and clear acrylic. Chromed metal (iron) tube and parts. 3 chrome ornamental screws and nuts. Bakelite E27 socket.
Cord Length: 60 cm / 23.62’’
Height: 40 cm / 15.74”
Width: ∅ 40 cm / 15.74”
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. For this setup a big globe light bulb was used.
Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.
Designer: To be appraised.
Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel, Kontich and Wommelgem, Belgium.
Other versions: This acrylic globe pendant lamp exists in several other colours. It was also made in green, complete smoked brown, complete translucent and so on.
Often attributed to Harvey Guzzini. Harvey Guzzini produced many types of acrylic lamps, but not this one. Tapio Wirkkala, the famous designer from Finland designed a very similar lamp in the 1950s, but is made in glass.
Massive
Massive was in origin a bronze foundry and they produced mainly candlesticks, crucifixes and chandeliers in Wilrijk near Antwerp, Belgium. The company was founded in 1926 by Pieter-Jozef De Jaeck. His son Eddy De Jaeck was responsible for the huge expansion of the company in the 1970s. But it were his sons, Piet and Jan De Jaeck who made Massive a true multinational. Thus, they moved production to Eastern Europe and China.
In the 1980s Massive became the leading brand in Europe. In 2002, the brothers left the company to the investment fund CVC Capital Partners, for allegedly more than 250 million euros. Since 2008 the company is owned by Philips and the name of the shops is changed into Light Gallery.
When the takeover by Philips was announced in November 2006 Massive commercialised more than 10.000 lighting products under brand names such as Massive, TRIO and Lirio. The group had about 5.000 employees worldwide and was active in 70 countries.
Massive sold many lamps made by others. Peill + Putzler from Germany and Yamada Shomei from Japan produced lamps for Massive, to name a few. Many other lighting companies did.
Acrylic: often named by its commercial name: Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite, Lucite, is a thermoplastic.
Links (external links open in a new window)
Massive – Wikipedia (in Dutch)
The complete history of the Philips company