Vintageinfo – All About Vintage Lighting

BuR Flamingo Wall Lamp

Materials: Rectangular black painted metal wall mount. Adjustable black painted elongated square beam lampshade with many elongated slots, painted white inside. Both painted with wrinkle paint. Adjustable chrome rods & joint. Chrome knee joint on the lampshade. Some metal parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Lampshade: 20 x 7,5 x 7,5 cm / 7.87 x 2.95 x 2.95”

Depth: 14,5 to 46,5 cm / 5.70 to 18.30” – adjustable

Wall Mount: 13 x 4,5 x 2,5 cm / 5.11 x 1.77 x 0.98”

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 Bur Flamingo wall lamp exists in black, black & white and white. Produced in several variations. These lamps were also produced as desk lamps. A white more recent wall lamp can be found here.

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.

A Flamingo desk lamp can be found over here.

Bünte und 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.

Many thanks to Frank from nullviernull raum+kommunikation for the beautiful pictures and enthusiasm. You can find his shop over here on Ebay.