Many thanks to Fons Vandervaeren for the enlightening information and the catalogue picture. His grandfather Alfred Moens was one of the founders of De Rupel. You can find his website about De Rupel over here.

Holmegaard Table Lamp – NOT

First of all, this lamp is not made by Holmegaard from Denmark!

Materials: Round aluminium base. Hand blown yellow-ochre glass. White glass on the inside (vetro doublé). Brass rod. Tubular striped fabric lampshade. 2 Bakelite E27 sockets.

Total Height: 60 cm / 23.62”

Lampshade: ∅ 31 cm / 12.20”

Height: 36 cm / 14.17”

Base: ∅ 20 cm / 7.87”

Electricity: 2 bulbs E27, 2 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a white or frosted light bulb is preferred inside the base.

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

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel & Glasfabriek De Rupel N.V., Boom, Belgium.

Other versions: Made in a few colours and in clear glass. All with a matching tubular striped fabric lampshade. Also made as a pendant lamp. Inside the base is a light bulb, it can be switched on independently. Table lamps were also produced with only 1 light bulb.

It is always said that these lamps were made by Holmegaard or Fog & Morup from Denmark, but those are false assumptions. The glass of these lamps was made by Glasfabriek De Rupel. The base, lampshade and electric parts were made by Massive. These lamps were sold by Massive, so it is a Massive lamp. De Rupel produced many glass parts for Massive lamps.

Glasfabriek De Rupel

The glass factory was founded in 1923. De Rupel was led by Léon Boon, one of the 30 investors. Léon Boon was a butcher and due to back problems he was appointed chairman of the management board. The company produced many glass items. Chandeliers and parts for lamps were produced since the 1930’s.

De Rupel was a glass producer, they did not commercialise the lighting themselves. The lamps were offered at trade fairs to lighting companies who added the wiring and included them in their sales range. They produced glass for companies such as Massive, Philips and Bo-Niko. Many lamps on Vintageinfo uses glass from De Rupel. Some examples can be found in the links.

The glass-works went bankrupt in 1975 after it merges with 3 other Belgian glass companies: Doyen, Boussu and Verreries Nouvelles de Manage (New Glass-works of Manage). The fusion was without success. Glass production in Belgium became to expensive. De Rupel was the only factory that made a slight profit. The joint name was MANUVERBEL (Manufacture Belge du Verre – Belgian Glass Factory). 

The company was sold by the Belgian government to the German company BEGA Gantenbrink-Leuchten, also owner of Glashütte Limburg and dismantled. The government wanted to recoup the overdue social security contributions.

Today the BOOM company produces outdoor lighting and is located in Puurs, Belgium. It is named BOOM Buitenverlichting NV (BOOM Outdoor Lighting Limited Liability Company).

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 1970’s. 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 1980’s 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.

VLM Components

All the electric parts were made by VLM Components in the 1970s. VLM Components was founded in 1945 in Buccinasco, a small village near Milan, Italy. The firm is part of the Relco Group, founded in 1967. Today they are the owners of the brands Relco, Leuci, Relco Lighting, VLM Components and Segno. VLM Components became famous for the switches they produce which were designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968.

Vetro Doublé: an object made of two layers of glass normally of two different colours.