Felt Clown Bobblehead Table Lamp

Materials: Felt, wool and some other fabrics. The head is made of Styrofoam. The feet are made of some light wood or cardboard. White Bakelite E14 socket.

Height: 28 cm / 11.02”

Width: 17 cm / 6.69”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 25 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used. Preferably a small round coloured (red) bulb.

Period: 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: To be appraised.

Other versions: Many different figurines were produced. All with a light bulb for the nose or in a basket and made with felt, as you can see below.

Produced in Italy. Another clown here on the website has the label “Made in Italy” on the bottom. Sold by, probably among others, Massive from Belgium.

These doll lamps were made in the Linea Zero style, but they are probably not.

Massive

Massive was in origin a bronze foundry and they produced mainly candlesticks, crucifixes and chandeliers in Wilrijk near Antwerp, Belgium. The company was founded in 1926 by Pieter-Jozef De Jaeck. His son Eddy De Jaeck was responsible for the huge expansion of the company in the 1970s. But it were his sons, Piet and Jan De Jaeck who made Massive a true multinational. Thus, they moved production to Eastern Europe and China.

In the 1980s Massive became the leading brand in Europe. In 2002, the brothers left the company to the investment fund CVC Capital Partners, for allegedly more than 250 million euros. Since 2008 the company is owned by Philips and the name of the shops is changed into Light Gallery.

When the takeover by Philips was announced in November 2006 Massive commercialized more than 10.000 lighting products under brand names such as Massive, TRIO and Lirio. The group had about 5.000 employees worldwide and was active in 70 countries.

Massive sold many lamps made by others. Peill + Putzler from Germany and Yamada Shomei from Japan produced lamps for Massive, to name a few. Many other lighting companies did.

Arno

The electric parts are Italian and made in the 1960s by Arno.  Arno is a typical European name. Arno elettronica SRL exists in Italy. It’s unclear if this Arno is the maker and that the company existed in the 1960s. The switch is article nr. 503.