Links (external links open in a new window)
Heinrich Linke website – Archived
Many thanks to Christophe from STAT in Aalst, Belgium for the lamp.
Many thanks to Heico Linke for all the help and info.
Linke Plewa Circo Desk Lamp
Materials: Round blue plastic base with a black painted iron lid in the bottom. Toroidal transformer inside. Triangular green plastic in top. Chrome ring, 2 springs, rubber. 2 yellow rings. Yellow rods holder. 2 black painted thin metal rods. Adjustable triangular blue lampshade with 2 red round buttons and a red handle. Aluminium reflector. Porcelain G5 socket.
Lampshade: 12 x 6 cm / 4.72 x 2.36”
Max Height: 76 cm / 29.92” – adjustable
Base: ∅ 15,7 x 5,3 cm / 6.18 x 2.08”
Electricity: 1 bulb G5 halogen, 1 x 50 watt maximum, 12 volt. 220 volt to 12 volt transformer built-in the base. Any type of G5 lamp can be used. Not a specific one preferred. Switch with two settings, high and low (6 and 12 volt).
Period: 1980s – Memphis Milan Style.
Designer: Heico Linke.
Manufacturer: Brilliant AG, Brilliantstraße 1, D-27442 Gnarrenburg, Germany.
Other versions: This Linke Plewa Circo desk lamp was also made in black with red and white with black.
Heico Linke
Heico Linke (Heinrich Linke) is a German industrial designer who created several lamps for Brilliant AG. Among others he designed the Circo table lamp. It has many similarities with this floor lamp and the table lamp.
He studied at the University of Fine Arts / Department of Industrial Design in Hamburg from 1974 until 1979.
Heico Linke founded his design company Linke-Plewa-Design in 1978. The office stopped in 1994. Since 1995 he designed for ZACK, founded in 1985. ZACK is one of the leading European specialist providers in the field of stainless steel home accessories. In May 2014 Linke left the company and started his own company for 4 years. Since then Heico is retired.
Brilliant Leuchten
Brilliant AG was founded in 1951 as Brillantglashütte oHG / Lippold and Tschammer in Gnarrenburg, Germany as a glass making company. In 1953, the glass-works started to produce bar pendant bowls out of glass. These lamp fittings were the first step towards the exclusive production of lighting fixtures.
In 1970, the facility for industrial glass had to be sold in order to create more space. At the end of the 70s, the name Brillantglashütte KG had been changed into Brillantleuchten AG. In 1991, the company name was changed for the last time. The German word “leuchten” (lights) has been deleted and a second “i” has been added to the final version Brilliant AG.
In 2000, the American Sli Inc. became the new main shareholder. Since 2004, the British “The National Lighting Company” has been the new main shareholder of Brilliant AG.
Memphis
This Linke Plewa Circo desk lamp is made in the famous Memphis style. The Italian Memphis Group was a design and architecture group founded by Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) in 1981 in Milan which designed Postmodern furniture, lights, fabrics, ceramics, glass and metal objects from 1981 to 1987.
The name was taken after the Bob Dylan song “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again“. The song was played constantly during the first meeting of the designers on the 11th December 1980.
The group’s members included Andrea Branzi, Aldo Cibic, Alessandro Mendini,Arata Isozaki, Barbara Radice, Beppe Caturegli, Ettore Sottsass, George Sowden, Gerard Taylor, Giovanni Levanti, Hans Hollein, Javier Mariscal, Laura Agnoletto, Lawrence Laske, Luciano Paccagnella, Marco Susani, Marco Zanini, Marco Zanuso, Maria Sanshez, Martine Bedin, Marzio Rusconi, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Masanori Umeda, Matteo Thun, Michael Graves, Michele de Lucchi, Nathalie du Pasquier, Peter Shire, Shiro Kuramata and Thomas Bley. Ettore Sottsass left the movement in 1985, the Memphis Group disbanded in 1991.