HoSo Stars Desk Lamp

Materials: Red Bakelite curved rectangular base. Brass gooseneck. Adjustable folded metal (iron) conical lampshade perforated with stars and round holes. Bakelite E14 socket.

Height: 35 cm / 13.77”

Lampshade: ∅ 11 x 19 cm / 4.33 x 7.48”

Base: 13 x 7 cm / 5.11 x 2.75”

Electricity: 1 bulb E14, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1950s, 1960s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: HoSo Hoffmeister & Sohn, Lüdenscheid, Germany.

Other versions: This HoSo stars desk lamp exists in several colours. A recess is provided in the bottom of the base for use as a wall lamp. Several other lamps exists with this lampshade, including floor and wall lamps. Several other lamps were made with the same base, as you can see in the catalogue picture.

In The Netherlands these lamps were sold by Philips. They appear in the 1957 catalogue.

Made in the style of lamp model 0513, designed by Josef Hurka for Napako from the Czech Republic, the neighbour country of Austria. The lamp is named “the nun“, after the folded nun’s hood. 

The Germans call this a tütenschirm lamp. Tütenschirm is a cone screen.

HoSo

HoSo Hoffmeister & Sohn or Hoffmeister Und Sohn, was established in 1910 by Wilhelm Hoffmeister. In the first years the company was involved in the manufacturing and installation of switch-gear.

Hoffmeister & Sohn was the first factory in Germany specialised in lamps made from Bakelite (1929).

In 1951 the company founder Wilhelm Hoffmeister died at the age of 75.

The 1960’s are characterised by sustained growth and the takeover of the companies Bünte & Remmler from Frankfurt in 1962 as well as the company Bugenteetzer in Lüdenscheid.

At the beginning of the 80’s, Hoffmeister was the pioneer of modern lighting fixtures for power rails.

In 1997 the Hoffmeister family sold Hoffmeister Leuchten GmbH to the American JJI Lighting Group. The company moved to Schalksmühle in 2008. 

JJI Lighting Group, Inc. manufactures lighting fixtures in Europe and the United States. The company was incorporated in 1986 and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. It has manufacturing facilities in the United States and Germany. JJI Lighting Group, Inc. operates as a subsidiary of Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Philips Lighting). JJI Lighting Group, Inc. owns the Alkco Lighting Company, today named Philips Alkco and Metrolux Lighting.

Awards: 13 iF-Design Awards: (1956 – 2016)

VLM Components

The switch, socket and wire of this table lamp were made by VLM Components in the 50’s, 60’s. The plug was probably replaced, but it is also a plug made by VLM Components. They were mostly sold as replacement plugs in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s.

VLM Components was founded in 1945 in Buccinasco, a small village near Milan, Italy. VLM Components 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. The switch on this table lamp is model 450; the small model of the famous switch designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968.