Guzzini Lucerna Style Floor Lamp

Materials: Round chromed metal (iron) base. Chrome rods and parts. Adjustable white acrylic mushroom globe lampshade. Aluminium lid and “handle” on top. Some metal parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 165 cm / 64.96”

Lampshade: ∅ 40 cm / 15.74”

Base: ∅ 30 cm / 11.81”

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: Société Anonyme Boulanger, Anderlecht, Belgium.

Other versions: This Harvey Guzzini Lucerna style floor lamp exists in several colours. It also exists with a flat chrome base. Also table lamps and pendant lamps exists.

This floor lamp and also the table and pendant lamp were also sold by Massive, the other famous Belgian company. You can find the with both labels (or without).

This lamp is almost a copy of the Lucerna floor lamp made by Harvey Guzzini since 1966 and designed by the internal design team Ufficio tecnico interno. The Lucerna was produced until 1977.

The Lucerna floor lamp was made in two versions and many colours. Also a pendant lamp and table lamp were made. Several other lamps with the same base and lampshades with this bow on top exists, but they all have a different name.

Also the German Brilliant Leuchten made their version of this floor lamp. It has chrome tubes on top instead of slats and a flat base with a rounded edge. Another Belgian company, Geve, produced a floor lamp with also a chrome rim below.

S.A. Boulanger

S.A. Boulanger was founded in Anderlecht, Belgium in 1945. The company is famous for the large amount of lights it produced that were designed by Gaetano Sciolari. At some point in the 1980s the company changed their name in Les Ateliers Boulanger NV.

It has long been thought that they were two different companies, but that is because a trader from Liège, Belgium persisted that the lamps came from Herstal, near Liège.

In 1996 the company had 11 employees. The firm moved in 1998 to the Martelarenlaan 155 in 3010 Kessel-Lo, near Leuven. In the period 1995 – 2001 Jean-Philippe Spalart was the CEO. He did a feasibility study for the transfer of the company to China, Eastern Europe and Africa. Relocation of the manufacture in Zimbabwe.

Boulanger was specialised in metal processing and manufacturers high-end lamps and lighting fixtures. Les Ateliers Boulanger ended business in 2006.

Massive & Boulanger

Massive sold several Boulanger models over the years. The only difference is the typical Massive canopy/ceiling cap and some other parts.

Old text from the 1990s

“Boulanger sells mainly in the high-end lighting markets in Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg. The growing sales in the US and in South Africa are of growing importance to the company. Due to the highly competitive market, having product with a high added value is very important. The intelligent lamp is an important advantage, compared to our competitors, and will increase our market share in an important way.

The most important local competitors are Massive, a Belgian company, market leader in Europe (turnover of 100 MEUR), Deknudt at Deerlijk (turnover 2.5 MEUR) and some 10 other Belgian competitors of its own size. There is important competition from southern European and Asian competitors. The market share of Boulanger is only a few percent of the share of the Belgian companies. It is a small company with a turnover of about 300 k EURO.”

“Most Boulanger lamps are low voltage and halogen lamps (220V up to 300W or 12V up to 50W).
The products are sold to retail shops. In Belgium, about 300 retail shops sell its products. There are around 40 retail shops abroad: Luxembourg, Germany, France and South Africa.”

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 commercialised 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 from other companies, To many to name them. Almost every company sold lamps made by others.