ERCO Rise & Fall Pendant Lamp

Materials: Round plastic perforated lampshade with many small round holes. Some metal parts. Bakelite parts. Oval plastic globe rise & fall retracting mechanism. Metal spring and parts inside. Curved aluminium handle. Bakelite E27 socket.

Cord length: 65 cm / 25.59”

Height: 28 cm / 11.02”

Width: 40 cm / 15.74”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, max 100 watt, 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: ERCO GmbH, Lüdenscheid, Germany.

Other versions: The mechanism of this ERCO rise & fall pendant lamp was used for many lamps. It is the “trademark” of the company. Probably this lamp exists in several colours.

ERCO was founded in 1934 by Arnold Reininger (1907-2003), Karl Reeber and Paul Buschhaus in Lüdenscheid, Germany. The company name ERCO represents a phonetic abbreviation of the founding name “Reininghaus & Co.“.

The company is still in family ownership. During the early years, ERCO produced parts for lamps. In particular a spring-supported rise & fall retracting mechanism, as you can see with this pendant lamp. It was a big success.

In the 1930’s the industrial production of complete luminaires was started. After the Second World War Arnold Reininger and Karl Reeber continued the company, co-founder Paul Buschhaus had died in the war.

Famous designers that worked for the ERCO company are Alois Ferdinand Gangkofner, Roger Tallon, Ettore Sottsass, Emilio Ambasz, Shiro Kuramata, Giancarlo Piretti, Dieter Witte,  Yves Béhar, Knud Holscher, Franco Clivio, Naoto Fukasawa and many others.

The company was awarded many times thanks to these great artists and the vision of the ERCO company. ERCO received 88 iF Design Awards.