Artimeta Umbrella Floor Lamp

Materials: Round chrome wire frame base & rods. Rayon umbrella lampshade. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 72 cm / 28.34”

Width: ∅ 80 cm / 31.49”

Base: ∅ 40 cm / 15.74”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 watt maximum, 110, 220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a spotlight is preferred. 

Period: 1970s.

Designer: Gijs Bakker in 1973.

Manufacturer: Artimeta, The Netherlands.

Other Versions: This Artimeta Umbrella floor lamp was also made as a table lamp. The umbrella of this lamp seems not to be original anymore. The original can be closed like a real umbrella.

Gijs Bakker

Gijsbertus Johannes (Gijs) Bakker, born 20 February 1942, is a jewellery and industrial-designer. Bakker was educated at the Institute for Applied Arts (Instituut voor Kunstnijverheidsonderwijs) also known as the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, from 1958 until 1962 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. From 1962 until 1963 he went to the Konstfackskolan (art school) in Stockholm, Sweden.

Gijs Bakker was awarded many times. His work is represented in museum collections worldwide.

For this lamp he was inspired by the type of lamp that photographers use. A full biography can be found on Wikipedia and on his website.

Artimeta

Artimeta was founded by Floris H.  Fiedeldij in 1960. Artimeta produced luxury lighting and furniture. Also French designer Mathieu Matégot created several items for Artimeta. Most products were sold in Germany. About 15 people worked for the company. Because Artimeta was booming, Fiedeldij was searching for investors.

Through Mr. W. H. Fockema, a banker, he met Mr. Schoon, director of Transcarbo, a subsidiary of the Oranje Nassau Mines in Heerlen.

A few months later it all went in the wrong direction. The ex-miners, however well-intentioned, could barely handle the fine materials and screws. Customers started to complain about the long waiting times and poor workmanship.

Fiedeldij was confronted with an unimaginable bureaucracy. For example, an order for 1000 screws had to be initialled by 10 people before anything happened.

After he went to complain to the management of Orange Nassau was Fiedeldij dismissed. A little later the factory was closed and transferred to Heerlen.

Only five people were still working and only lamps were imported from Germany and Italy. They no longer produced lamps themselves. The company imported lamps made by Vistosi, Venini, Stilnovo, Martinelli Luce and several other famous companies.

In 1975, Fiedeldij wrote in a bitter letter: “In summary, it can be concluded that an Italian lamp factory is kept alive with Dutch government subsidy and that a Dutch company, which could employ at least 35 people, due to mismanagement has been grounded by the subsidized company in question.”

As the “Het Vrije Volk” newspaper emphasized in the title: A Brabant manufacturer receives an attractive offer. Oranje Nassau takes over his thriving company and says it wants to expand for employment. But the dream is soon over: production was deliberately killed. 

After the bankruptcy, the company got a restart under the name Art Light. Today the Artimeta name is back in use and they are importer, producer and distributor of design lighting. Today the are located in Amstenrade.