Lamps in the movies and on TV
Two André Cazenave Dorra floor lamps are used as a set piece in the Belgian Canvas TV show Winteruur (Winter hour). Hosted by comedian and television maker Wim Helsen.
Links (external links open in a new window)
The village of Cachan – Wikipedia
François Arnal – Wikipedia (in French)
François Arnal – Encyclopédie audiovisuelle de l’art contemporain”
Fiell, Charlotte; Fiell, Peter (2005). 1000 Lights: 1878-1959. Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8228-1606-6
Winteruur TV show – Canvas website
Vintageinfo
André Cazenave Style Floor Lamp
Materials: Round base. Globe lampshade made of resin or polyester in a faux stone/rock style. Brass rod. Some plastic parts. Bakelite E14 socket.
Height: 35 cm / 13.77”
Width: ∅ 33 cm / 12.99”
Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used. Not a specific one preferred.
Period: 1960s,1990s – Mid-Century modern.
Designer: After a design by André Cazenave (1928-2003).
Manufacturer: To be appraised, no label present. This lamp is in the Cazenave style. It is not his design.
Other versions: This André Cazenave style floor lamp exists in many forms. The best known real lamp by him is the lamp in rock form “Dorra” from 1969. Exist also as a cube, a flame, a lying Apollo head, Adonis and Aphrodite, a pyramid, shells, a sponge, even a complete desk and much more.
These lamps were produced in France by Atelier Pierre Disderot in Cachan near Paris and Atelier A. in Paris, the workshop of artist François Arnal (1924-2012).
The Italian company Singleton produced very similar lamps in the late 1980s, early 1990s. In Italy the original lamps were sold by the company Corinne Halna (L’ Abat Jour and Diffusione s.a.s.).
André Cazenave (1928-2003)
André Cazenave is mainly known for his luminous sculptures edited by Atelier A. and Pierre Disderot in the 1960s and 1970s. Designed for both indoor and outdoor use: its pebbles (Dorra model), cubes, pyramids, corals, Greek inspired busts and so on. These lamps are all made of polyester or fibreglass coated with marble powder. And they have an aluminium base were the electric parts are attached.
Atelier A.
In 1968, François Arnal opens Atelier A. in Paris, which produces objects created by artists (tables, lights).
Disderot
Pierre Disderot (1920-1991): Born out of the Arts Décoratifs and the Boulle school, Pierre Disderot created in 1947 his company “Atelier Pierre Disderot“. Initially installed at 19, rue de la Gare in Cachan, some 7 kilometres from Paris, Pierre Disderot was inspired by the creations of Scandinavian luminarists and discovered his way by becoming the inventor of contemporary decorative lighting.
The post-war period in France was a turning point: between 1945 and 1960, new ways of life were crystallised, an aspiration for practice. Very quickly the approach of Pierre Disderot fits into the demand of the moment. His industrial quality made him collaborate with his friends designers of the time who create, draw and bring to him lighting to be edited.
At the same time, he also realised prestigious affairs, such as the lighting of many halls of the ocean liner “Liberté”.
He worked together with designers as François Arnal, René Jean Caillette, André Cazenave, J.M. chaudeurge, Jacques Dumont, Roger Fatus, Fermigier, Gauthier-Delaye, Max Garnault, Christophe Gevers, Pierre Guariche, P. Kamminga, Yonel Lebovici, Michel Mortier, Joseph André Motte, Olivier Mourgue, Pierre Paulin, Dominique Prevot, Marc Sadler, J. Reid, Alain Richard, André Stern, André Simard, Jorn Utzon and others, who imagine many projects to edit. Disderot’s light are part of the most avant-gardist pieces of their time.
Soka
In 1986 Soka and Atelier Pierre Disderot merge and become the Soka Disderot entity. A single catalogue includes the models of the two companies.
Soka was a company created in 1952 by Jacques Chatain with a small catalogue. In the mid-1960s, this catalogue includes almost exclusively industrial fluorescent luminaires with Plexiglas bowls called “ice breads”. Until the 1980s, these lights were widely used: with this type of product, Soka illuminated all the tobacco factories in France owned by SEITA (Gitannes, Gauloises) (SEITA is the former French state-owned tobacco monopoly. It merged in 1999 with its Spanish equivalent, Tabacalera, to form Altadis).
In November 1984, Soka took over the management of Atelier Pierre Disderot. It was in 1986 that the company Soka and Atelier Pierre Disderot merged and became the Soka-Disderot entity.
