Brass & Acrylic Tripod Desk Lamp

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Brass & acrylic tripod desk lamp 2 white Perspex parts conical ball-ending rods 1950s 1960s Cosack Germany

rass & acrylic tripod desk lamp 2 white plastic parts conical ball-ending rods 1950s 1960s Cosack Germany

Brass & Acrylic Tripod Desk Lamp – Red Version

Lamps in the Movies

Borgman (2013)

A red version of this tripod desk lamp was used as set decoration in the 2013 Dutch psychological thriller drama film Borgman, starring Jan Bijvoet, Hadewych Minis and Jeroen Perceval.

Brass & Acrylic Tripod Desk Lamp – Electrical Parts

BJB

The E14 lamp socket of this desk lamp was made by BJB. BJB stands for Brökelmann, Jäger & Busse, today BJB GmbH & Co. KG. The company was founded in 1867 and originally specialised in petroleum lighting. It still exists today and produces LED components, terminal blocks and connectors, lamp holders for conventional lighting, and switches. BJB is active worldwide. BJB GmbH & Co. KG is located at Werler Strasse 1, 59755 Arnsberg, Germany.

VLM Components

The switch was made by VLM Components, a company from Buccinasco, near Milan in Italy. Today, VLM Components is owned by Relco. It is one of the major European suppliers of switches, cords and plugs. VLM Components became especially known for its switches designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968.

Materials: Tripod base made of three conical brass rods with ball ends. Brass knee joint. Adjustable white acrylic elongated shell-shaped lampshade. Small brass plate with two screws on top. White half-round acrylic socket decoration. Brass E14 socket.

Height: 22 cm / 8.66”

Lampshade: 20 x 12 cm / 7.87 x 4.72”

Base: 15 x 12 cm / 5.90 x 4.72”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a candelabra bulb is preferred because the bulb is part of the design.

Period: 1950s, 1960s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Gebrüder Cosack, Neheim-Hüsten, Germany – attributed.

Other versions: This brass and white acrylic tripod desk lamp was also made with a mother-of-pearl effect on the white acrylic. Versions in black, red and beige or vanilla-coloured acrylic are also known. The same lampshade was used for single and double wall lamps and desk lamps with a round base and two rods, often in red and white.

This tripod desk lamp was also made with a different base, using two flat black-painted rods and one curved rod with the same lampshade.

The lamp is often attributed to Italian companies such as Stilnovo, and also to the German company WKR Leuchten (Werkstätten für kunsthandwerkliche Raumleuchten, Bronzewarenfabrik). These attributions should be treated with caution.

Acrylic: Acrylic, often known by commercial names such as Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite and Lucite, is a thermoplastic material.

Cosack Leuchten (Gebrüder Cosack)

Gebrüder Cosack was a long-established German lighting manufacturer based in Neheim-Hüsten (today part of Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia), one of the historic centres of the German lighting industry. The company is widely regarded as the oldest lamp factory in Neheim.

The firm was founded in 1848 by Theodor Cosack, Egon Cosack and Friedrich Cosack as a metal-processing company in Neheim-Hüsten. In its early years, the business produced lighting equipment, including oil and safety lamps, alongside other metal goods. The company later also operated a foundry, enabling the in-house production of cast metal components.

Archival records document Cosack’s continuous activity from the 19th century onward, including a cashbook covering the years 1872–1882 and a copy book from 1905/06. These sources underline the company’s long industrial history and its early importance within the Neheim lighting industry.

After the Second World War, Gebrüder Cosack repositioned itself and followed a modern design direction. During the post-war years the company briefly used the GECOS name and logo as a form of post-war branding. By the late 1950s the company had returned to using the name Cosack Leuchten, as confirmed by surviving catalogues.

During the post-war decades, Cosack became particularly well known for high-quality interior lighting, often executed in brass and copper, and widely used in restaurants, cafés and public interiors. The company combined solid industrial manufacturing with contemporary design and careful material choices.

Designers associated with Cosack include Gottfried Stürzenhofecker, Ursula Stürzenhofecker, K. H. Kinsky, Hans Wilfried Hegger, Hans-Joachim Groth, Burkhard Panteleit, Joachim O. Becker, Prof. Friedrich Becker, Waldemar Rothe and Jan Armgardt.

Cosack received numerous design awards and is credited with 15 iF Design Awards, confirming its importance within post-war German industrial design. Several Cosack lamps were also exhibited in major design contexts, such as the exhibition “Die gute Industrieform”.

The company is generally reported to have gone bankrupt in 1984. Nevertheless, catalogues from as late as 1989–1990 are known, indicating that Cosack lighting products continued to be marketed into the late 1980s.

Some Cosack lamps were also sold in Belgium, where they appear in catalogues of the Belgian company Boulanger. Cosack lamps also appeared in the catalogues of the American lighting company Koch + Lowy, indicating that several Cosack designs were distributed in the United States.

Note: the name GECOS should be understood as a temporary post-war brand name used by Gebrüder Cosack, not as a separate company and not as the original or permanent company name.