Fase Square Tube Table Lamp

Materials: Black painted folded flat metal (iron) base. Adjustable white painted aluminium perforated beam lampshade with rounded corners and elongated slots on the back. Black plastic, chrome plastic screw. Bakelite E27 socket.

Lampshade: 17 x 8 x 8 cm /6.69 x 3.14 x 3.14”

Max Height: 33 cm / 12.99”

Base: 15 x 15 cm / 5.90 x 5.90”

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: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Fase, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain.

Other versions: This Fase square tube table lamp exists in several colours and many variations. The lampshade was used for several other table lamps and floor lamps, clamp lamps spotlights and so on. The lampshade was  also made without rounded corners and a black plastic screw, as you can see. You can find the other table lamp over here. The table lamp with straight corners is provided with a recess, it can be used as a wall lamp.

This Fase square tube table lamp was sold by Fase from Madrid, Spain. In all probability Brilliant Leuchten from Germany produced this lamp. The only difference is the wiring. For the Brilliant Leuchten lamp electric parts were used from VLM Components from Italy. It also has the 475 switch designed by Achille Castiglioni. Fase used their own parts. 

Almost similar lamps were made by Philips from The Netherlands. You can find an example over here.

Fase

The Fase company was founded by self-made man Pedro Martin and designer Luis Pérez de la Oliva in 1964, some sources say 1966. The Boomerang lamp was one of their first designs. Initially they sold their self-produced lamps to the markets in and around the capital Madrid before successfully opening a factory in Torrejón de Ardoz on the outskirts of the city.

They produced mainly lamps, but also ashtrays and other products such as office bins and coat racks.

Fase supplied many lamps to the offices of General Franco‘s dictatorial government and the Guardia Civil, some sort of military police. From 1975 on, after the death of Franco and the end of the regime, Fase started with Italian Modern and Bauhaus-inspired designs. The Spaniards were unfamiliar with this design because of the Franco regime that ruled the country with an iron fist and allowed few foreign influences.

During the 1970s Fase exported lamps to Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Norway, France, Italy, Germany, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Hong Kong, Morocco, the United States and Canada. In total in more than 32 countries.

1980s

In the 1980s Fase jumped on the bandwagon of the halogen lighting. The break with tradition proved unsuccessful and ultimately contributed to the end of the business. A large fine of the Treasury in the early nineties for tax irregularities was the end for Fase. The company was officially dissolved in 1996.

Drowned, the company sold its manufacturing license to a German brand, Ma-Of, which slightly modified the original design by adding more chrome. Before these final death rattles, the partners had already separated. Luis Pérez de la Oliva had created his own brand Lupela, another flagship of Spanish design. GEI (Gabinete Estudios Industriales – Cabinet Industrial Studies) was another company that sold similar lamps. Also Massive from Belgium produced a few lamps in this style.

When the company stopped producing them abruptly, there was a lot of ‘stock’ available in the warehouses. That’s why you find relatively many lamps with a label attached. Many lamps are sold new and never used in the box (NOS – New Old Stock).

Designers

Designers who have worked for the company include: Gabriel Teixidó. He designed the Iberia and Meca series and Tomás Díaz Magro, responsible for the Apolo, Minifase and Impala lamps. The most productive was Luis Pérez de la Oliva, who designed the majority of the Fase lamps.

Fase also sold lamps made by others such as the Yamada Shomei ‘Manon’ table lamp from Japan. You can find it over here on Vintageinfo. The Prisma table lamp was produced in Italy by F.A.A.I. Arredo. The Planeta table and floor lamp by Esperia. Also the Sinus stacking ashtray made by Helit from Germany. A design by Walter Zeischegg from 1967. You can find it here in the MoMA, New York. And these series of lamps produced by Brilliant Leuchten.