Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO Pendant Lamp

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO pendant lamp plastic globe lampshade repeating diamond motif design 1960s 1970s Germany

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Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO Pendant Lamps – 1976 ERCO Catalogue

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO Pendant Lamp – 1968 Philips Catalogue

A white Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO pendant lamp was sold by the Dutch company Philips. It appears in a catalogue folder from March 1968. It is unclear if Philips also sold this clear plastic version.

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO pendant lamp – 1967 ERCO Catalogue Picture

Materials: Clear plastic globe lampshade with a geometric design. Stainless steel clamp. Some plastic and metal parts. Silver painted Bakelite E27 socket.

Cord length: 65 cm / 25.59”

Height: 29 cm / 11.41”

Width: ∅ 33 cm / 12.99”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, max 100 watt, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred. But a clear light bulb gives the best result.

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

Designer: Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner (1920-2003).

Manufacturer:ERCO GmbH, Lüdenscheid, Germany.

Other versions: Several designs were used for this Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner ERCO pendant lamp. Often named Diamond lamp. Gangkofner designed many lamps with a repeating motif. This lamp, model 2106 was also made in white, as you can see in the catalogue pictures. The white one is model 2107.

1967 award “Die Gute Industrieform ” (Good Industrial Design).

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner

Aloys Ferdinand Gangkofner (1920–2003) was a German glass and lighting designer from the Bavarian Forest. Trained at the Staatliche Fachschule für Glasindustrie (State Technical School for the Glass Industry) in Zwiesel, he explored free-blown techniques at Lamberts in Waldsassen and translated those methods into serial production, treating glass and light as an inseparable pair throughout his career.

From 1953 he worked as a freelance designer for Peill+Putzler in Düren, developing blown-glass pendants and ceiling lights that became widely distributed; from 1959 he designed for ERCO in Lüdenscheid, where many 1960s–70s acrylic/geometric pendants entered the market. He also created designs for Hessenglaswerke and collaborated with Corning in the U.S. (industrial glass). In 1954 his work earned a Gold Medal at the Milan Triennale.

Alongside product lighting, Gangkofner built large light installations—often arrays of prisms or crystal spheres—and taught for decades at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich, becoming Honorary Professor (1973) and later establishing the Chair of Glass and Light (1983). He died in Munich in 2003.

Legacy. Several of his mid-century lighting designs have been reissued by mawa design in recent years (including a 2025 relaunch).

ERCO

ERCO was founded in 1934 by Arnold Reininger (1907-2003), Karl Reeber and Paul Buschhaus in Lüdenscheid, Germany. The company name ERCO represents a phonetic abbreviation of the founding name “Reininghaus & Co. “.

The company is still in family ownership. During the early years, ERCO produced parts for lamps. In particular a spring-supported retracting mechanism for pendant lamps.

In the 1930s the industrial production of complete luminaires was started. After the Second World War Arnold Reininger and Karl Reeber continued the company, co-founder Paul Buschhaus had died in the war.

Other famous designers that worked for the ERCO company are Roger Tallon, Ettore Sottsass, Emilio Ambasz, Shiro Kuramata, Giancarlo Piretti, Dieter Witte, Yves Béhar, Knud Holscher, Franco Clivio, Naoto Fukasawa and many others.

The company was awarded many times thanks to these great artists and the vision of the ERCO company. ERCO received 88 iF Design Awards.