Hans-Agne Jakobsson Metalarte Pendant Lamp

Hans-Agne Jakobsson Metalarte pendant lamp round orange aluminium lampshade white acrylic diffuser 1960s 1970s Spain

Hans Agne Jakobsson Metalarte Pendant Lamp 7

Hans-Agne Jakobsson Metalarte Pendant Lamp – Metalarte Catalogue Picture

Hans-Agne Jakobsson Metalarte Pendant Lamp – 1969 Prescolite Catalogue Picture

Many thanks to Lluís from Eclectique Vintage for the photos.

Materials: Orange painted round aluminium mushroom disc lampshade. Round white acrylic diffuser below. Brass tube & parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Cord Length: 50 cm / 19.68”

Height: 20 cm / 7.87”

Width: ∅ 47 cm / 18.50”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 75 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

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

Designer: Hans-Agne Jakobsson (1919 – 2009).

Manufacturer: Metalarte, Paseo de la Ribera 115, Canovelles, Barcelona, Spain.

Other versions: This Hans-Agne Jakobsson Metalarte pendant lamp comes in several colours and sizes.

These lamps were also sold by the American Prescolite company. They named it Riviera pendants, as you can see in the 1969 catalogue picture. Prescolite sold many European lamps at that time. Among others, lamps made by Louis Poulsen, Nordisk Solar and Peill+Putzler.

Hans-Agne Jakobsson

Hans-Agne Jakobsson was a Swedish interior and furniture designer, born in Hvadhem on Gotland, Sweden in 1919. Jakobsson became a cabinetmaker at the age of 18 and later he graduated as an architect in Göteborg. He began as an assistant to Carl Malmsten and Werner West.

After his graduation Hans–Agne Jakobsson started as an industrial designer at General Motors.

In 1951 he founded his own lighting company Hans-Agne Jakobsson AB in Markaryd. He also designed lamps for his 2 other companies: AB Ellysett, also in Markaryd. Lamps completely made of pine wood; it was his first step in the lighting business and his biggest success. SCAN-LIGHT was the third company. SCAN-LIGHT was for the lamps that were mostly made of plastic. It was also located in the same town.

Hans-Agne Jakobsson also had companies abroad: In The Netherlands it was Svera – Hans-Agne Jakobsson Nederland N.V. It was located at The Hague. Other seats from the company were located in Paris, France, Darmstadt, Germany. Barcelona, Spain, Stäfa, Switzerland, Oslo, Norway and of course Stockholm, Sweden. There was also a showroom in Toronto, Canada.

Hans-Agne Jakobsson died in 2009 at the age of 90. His closest family are his wife Lisa and their children, Karin and Ola.

Acrylic: often named by its commercial name: Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite, Lucite, is a thermoplastic.

Metalarte

Metalarte was founded in 1932 in Canovelles, a town about 30 km from Barcelona, in Catalonia, Spain. The company started as a metalworking workshop and gradually evolved into one of the most important lighting manufacturers in Spain. From the 1940s onward, Metalarte focused increasingly on functional and architectural lighting, laying the foundations for its later design-oriented identity.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Metalarte went through a major transformation. The company renewed its catalogue and actively collaborated with external designers, embracing contemporary industrial design rather than relying solely on in-house production. In this period, Metalarte also distributed lamps by international manufacturers such as Louis Poulsen (Denmark) and Italian firms including Arteluce and Stilnovo, reflecting its strong international outlook.

Metalarte worked with a wide range of designers who played a key role in shaping Spanish lighting design, including André Ricard, Gaetano Sciolari, Enric Franch, Josep Lluscà, Estudi Blanc, Josep Aregall, Òscar and Sergi Devesa, Antoni Arola, Lievore Altherr Molina, Ricard Ferrer, George W. Hansen, Héctor Serrano, Jordi Llopis, Ana Mir, Emili Padrós, Otto Canalda and Ramón Úbeda.

Several Metalarte designs from the 1970s became international references for functional lighting. A notable example is the Calder halogen lamp (1974) by Enric Franch, which is included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Today, Metalarte is part of the Luxonia Group, together with brands such as Troll and Sagelux. While this integration ensured continuity and industrial backing, it also marked the end of Metalarte as an independent, design-driven manufacturer rooted in its original Catalan context.