Bünte & Remmler Flamingo Desk Lamp

Materials: Square white painted metal base. Black painted elongated square beam lampshade with many elongated slots, painted white inside. Both painted with wrinkle paint. 2 small chrome rods. Chrome knee joint on the lampshade and square joint in the middle. Some metal parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Lampshade: 18 x 9 x 9 cm / 7.08 x 3.54 x 3.54”

Height: 37 cm / 14.56” – (height base + rod)

Rod: 29 cm / 11.41” (rod attached to the lampshade)

Base: 13 x 13 x 2,5 cm / 5.31”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

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

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Bünte & Remmler KG (BuR), Lahnstrasse 60-68, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Other versions: This Bünte & Remmler Flamingo desk lamp exists in black, black & white and white. Produced in slight variations: rod on the corner of the base, transverse perforations instead of perforations in length. Also made with the lampshade placed transversely, as you can see in the catalogue picture. These lamps were also produced as wall lamps.

Often said that Max Bietenholz designed these lamps in the 1950s, but Max Bietenholz AG is a Swiss retailer. They sold lamps produced by Bünte & Remmler, hence the confusion. Of course they used Max Bietenholz labels. Sometimes this lamp is confused with a desk lamp produced by Leclaire & Schäfer. It has several similarities. you can find it over here.

The Flamingo desk lamp model 02 843 won an iF Design Award in 1963.

The Flamingo model 5303 can be found over here.

Bünte & Remmler

The BuR (Bünte und Remmler) company emerged from the Wagner & Goldschmidt company in 1880. It was located in Frankfurt. As a petroleum lamp manufacturer Bünte & Remmler evolved into a producer of electric lighting around the turn of the century.

In the 1920s and 1930s the company was one of the few producers of handmade Bauhaus luminaires. Designers were Ferdinand Kramer, Wolfgang Tümpel, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and of course Christian Dell.

In 1962 BuR was sold to Hoffmeister & Sohn KG, HoSo. Later the company moved from Frankfurt to Lüdenscheid, some 180 km /112 mi away. It ended business in 1971. Hoffmeister has re-launched the brand a few years ago, somewhere in the 2000s, when is unclear.

Max Bietenholz 

Max Bietenholz AG is a Swiss company that was founded in 1961. It is located in Kloten, 10 km / 6.2 mi from the capital Zürich. They sold lamps for some 20 years. Today (2018) it is still a retailer of lighting. A lamp store is located at the company’s address. The company is owned by the Gehrig family, Martin and Renée. Unfortunately, Max Bietenholz AG has no website.

Many other companies produced “cube” lamps. Robert Sonneman designed a few lamps for George Kovacs. Kaiser Leuchten produced several lamps in the style, Stilnovo and so on.