Rolf Krüger at work in the Staff Studio in 1966

Wall lamps – flush mounts – ceiling lamps

The Kreuzaustern (Cross Oyster) wall lamp. Probably the most famous lamp Rolf Krüger designed for Staff. The Kreuzaustern wall lamp received the iF Design Award 1968, the Rosenthal-Studio-Preis 1968 and the LGA-Zentrum Form in 1968. You can find it over here on Vintageinfo.

Staff also produced the Kreuzaustern lamps for other companies. The lamp appears in the Danish Lyfa catalogue in 1972 and has the name Hannover.

The Kreuzaustern (Cross Oyster) wall lamp. ” First prize for a designer from Lemgo, Germany “.  Lippische Rundschau newspaper 1968.

The Kreuzaustern (Cross Oyster) wall lamps at the Geneva, Switzerland Motor Show (archived) in 1972 at the exhibition stand of Mercedes. Below flush mounts in the castle of queen Margrethe II of Denmark in 1970.

Wall lamp or flush mount

This wall lamp or flush mount received an iF Design Award in 1968.

Character, numbers and signs wall lamp

Chrome tube flush mount

These tubular lamps were awarded in 1967, but the table lamp with a cap received an iF Design Award in 1968.

Staff

Staff Leuchten – Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerke (lighting plant) was founded in 1945 in Lemgo, (West) Germany by Alfred Staff (1908–1989) and Otto Schwarz (1902–1951). After the war they left the Soviet occupation zone and set up a small three-man business in Lemgo producing consumer goods in wood and metal, repair work and pesticide against the Colorado potato beetle. The location in Westphalia-Lippe was chosen deliberately: the area already had veneer and lighting manufacturers, which made it a natural base for a new lighting company.

In 1946 Staff produced its first wrought-iron lamps, followed by large orders for spa complexes in the region. After the death of Otto Schwarz in 1951,Alfred Staff took over all shares and shifted the focus from project lighting to serial production of innovative, design-oriented luminaires.

From the late 1950s onwards the company became one of Germany’s most decorated lighting manufacturers. Staff was among the first winners of the “Gute Industrieform” (today iF Design) awards at the Hanover Fair, and over the next three decades collected more than 200 design prizes. In the 1960s the firm built up an international sales network, introduced the Variolux electronic dimmer (1966) and launched Lite-Trac (1967), one of the first VDE-compliant track lighting systems, which helped to position Staff as a pioneer in architectural and technical lighting.

Staff collaborated with numerous designers, including Rolf Krüger, Motoko Ishii, Kazuo Motozawa, Arnold Berges, Gerhard Beigel, Alfred Kalthoff and others. Several Japanese designs originally created for Yamagiwa – such as Motozawa’s Saturno series – were marketed in Europe by Staff, while some Staff models were licensed to other brands. In the 1970s the company published a joint catalogue with Stilnovo, and lamps from Staff appeared in catalogues from Raak, the Netherlands, and the Danish Lyfa, among others.

In the early 1990s the Austrian Zumtobel Group gradually acquired the company: in 1993 it took a majority stake, and by 1994 owned 100% of the shares. The lighting activities were continued under the brand Zumtobel Staff, with the Staff name remaining in use until 2006. The Lemgo factory is still one of Zumtobel’s key production sites for spotlights and lighting systems.

Links (external links open in a new window)

Zumtobel website

60 Years of Light from Lemgo – Zumtobel plant celebrates historic milestones

Vintageinfo, lamps designed by Rolf Krüger

Cross Oyster wall lamp

Chrome tube flush mount

5480 pendant lamp

Other Staff lamps

Heinz Neuhaus lamps designed by Rolf Krüger

BPS Leuchten-Systeme lamps designed by Rolf Krüger

Wiesenthalhütte, Goebel and Paul Neuhaus lamps designed by Rolf Krüger

Many thanks to Rolf Krüger for the enlightening information, photos and help.