Lamps in the movies
A black leather square base desk lamp was used as a prop in the 2015 – 2018 French parody spy TV series Au Service De La France (A Very Secret Service). Starring Hugo Becker, Wilfred Benaïche and Christophe Kourotchkine. Many lamps were used, mostly French lamps. Here in episode 1, season 2. A Square version was used in episode 10, season 1. The series is situated in 1960, these lamps are time travellers… Several other errors can be found in these series. For instance, the ashtray on the desk below, was made in the seventies by Soreno. It also appears in The Matrix movie.
Black Leather Square Base Desk Lamp
Materials: Black square flat leather base. Brass ribbed rod. Some brass parts. Black leather clad round mushroom style lampshade, white on the inside. Bakelite E27 socket.
Height: 42,2 cm / 16.61”
Width: ∅ 35 cm / 13.77”
Base: 17,8 x 17,8 cm / 7.00 x 7.00”
Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a silver-cupped light bulb is preferred.
Period: 1970s.
Designer: To be appraised.
Manufacturer: To be appraised.
Other versions: This black leather square base desk lamp exists in several colours and sizes and was also made with a round base. A floor lamp was also made.
These lamps are most of the time attributed to Jacques Adnet, France, but they are not buy his hand. Sometimes attributed to Hermès (France) or Delvaux (Belgium). Delvaux and Hermès have made leather desk lamps, but they are different and they have always the trademark of the company pressed in the leather. The Delvaux lamp has a square brass rod.
The leather lamps designed by Jacques Adnet are different than this one. This lamp has more similarities with the leather Philips lamp designed by Louis Kalff, but it is not of course. The Philips lamp is closed on top.
These table lamps were made for many years, at least since the 1950s and probably produced by several companies. This one is made in the 70s, it has its original wiring, switch and plug from that period.
ILG
In Anderlecht, near Brussels in Belgium the company ILG, International Leather & Gift s.a. produced or sold these lamps from 1997 until 2017. They only sold the office supplies you see below in brown and green, according to their website. The website is offline. The company ended business in October 2017. It was located at www.ilg-leather.com. The lamps of the ILG company were always marked on the bottom of the base: ILG Genuine Leather, Made in Belgium.
VLM Components
All the electric parts were made by VLM Components in the 1970s. The company was founded in 1945 in Buccinasco, a small village near Milan, Italy. The company became famous for the switches they produce since 1968, designed by Achille Castiglioni.
VLM is part of the Relco Group, founded in 1967. Today they are the owners of the brands Relco, Leuci, Relco Lighting, VLM and Segno.
Links (external links open in a new window)
Au Service De La France (2015 – 2018) TV series – Wikipedia
Au Service De La France (2015- 2018) TV series – IMDb