Dieter Witte Oyster Wall Lamp – 1974 Catalogue Picture
Many thanks to Frank from nullviernull raum+kommunikation for the beautiful pictures and enthusiasm. You can find his shop over here on Ebay.
Dieter Witte Oyster Wall Lamp
Materials: Square metal base. Galvanized on the back, painted white on front. Galvanised metal rail inside. Metal clamps and parts. Magnets. Bronze painted metal diffuser on front. 4 porcelain E27 sockets.
Width: 62,5 x 62,5 cm / 24.60 x 24.60”
Depth: 9 cm / 3.54”
Electricity: 4 bulbs E27, 4 x 75 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.
Period: 1960s.
Designer: Dieter Witte in 1963.
Manufacturer: Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerke GMBH, Lemgo, Germany.
Model number: A247.
Other versions: This Dieter Witte Oyster wall lamp exists in several colours. It was also sold as a flush mount, without the wall frame.
Often said that Dieter Witte designed this lamp together with Rolf Krüger, but those are false assumptions. Rolf Krüger designed the Cross Oyster wall lamp in 1968, a comparable lamp, also made by Staff. You can find it over here.
The Oyster (Auster) wall lamp received the “Gute Industrieform” (Good industrial form) design award in 1963.
Also BAG Turgi sold this lamp, together with several other Staff lamps. It appears in their 1971 catalogue.
Dieter Witte
Dieter Witte, born in 1937 in Stadthagen, Germany, studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule Hannover (School of Applied Arts) in the German city Hanover.
In 1964 he married with Heidi a textile designer and they have a daughter, Aino and a son, Richard.
He has been working with his own office with his wife as a freelance lamp designer since 1966 for different industrial companies, including Osram (25 years), ERCO (10 years) and other companies such as Telefunken, Bauknecht, Krups, Rosenthal and Pelikan. Several of his projects are design classics. Dieter Witte received several awards for his designs.
Dieter Witte passed away in April 2008.
Staff
Staff Leuchten – Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerk (lighting plant) – was established by Alfred Staff and Otto Schwarz in Lemgo, (West) Germany in 1945.
Their business started as a shop for consumer goods in wood and metal as well as pesticide for controlling the Colorado potato beetle, a huge problem at that time.
Within a year they the company expanded with 15 employees and they produced the first wrought iron luminaires. Over the next three decades, Staff was to develop into a world leader in design excellence, receiving over 200 awards for their achievements.
Staff also collaborated with the Italian company Stilnovo. They published a joint catalogue in the 1970s. The Dutch Raak and the Danish Lyfa sold several lamps in the 60s and 70s. Several other companies did.
In 1994 Zumtobel bought the company.
Links (external links open in a new window)
Staff iF Design Awards – Archived
Vintageinfo – Dieter Witte design
Staff Lamps
Cross Oyster wall lamp – Rolf Krüger design