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Marble And Chrome Eyeball Floor Lamp

Materials: Round Carrara marble base. Chromed metal (iron) curved rods, rotatable in any direction. Chrome pole. Black plastic rods connector. Some plastic parts. 3 chrome eyeball or globe lampshades, painted white inside. Chrome joint & lid. 3 Bakelite E27 sockets.

Height: 160 cm / 62.99”

Width: 110 cm / 43.30”

Base: ∅ 36 cm / 14.17’’

Electricity: 3 bulbs E27, 3 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s, 1980s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel, Kontich, Mortsel and Wommelgem, Belgium. 

Other versions: This marble and chrome eyeball floor lamp was also made with a chromed base or a black marble base. Made with many different lampshades. Also produced in a completely white painted version. These floor lamps were made with 3 or 5 lamps. During the 1980s a version with halogen spots was made. 

Similar floor lamps were produced by the Italian company ReggianiRumour has it that Reggiani produced these lamps for Massive, but that’s bullshit. There are many differences. The most striking dissimilarity is that the eyeball lampshades are different and have another connection to the rod, as you can see below. The black plastic center point were the swivable rods appear is made of metal at the Reggiani floor lamp: a much better quality. The plastic often gets loose, as you can see below in the TV series Life on Mars from 2007

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 commercialized more than 10.000 lighting products under brand names such as MassiveTRIO and Lirio. The group had about 5.000 employees worldwide and was active in 70 countries.

Massive sold many lamps made by others. Peill + Putzler from Germany and Yamada Shomei from Japan produced lamps for Massive, to name a few. Many other lighting companies did.

Reggiani

Goffredo Reggiani (1929 – 2004founded the company in the Italian town of Monza in 1957 and designed most of the lamps himself. In the beginning Goffredo most often used plywood and sanitized opaque glass in his designs as you can see in this example, giving his lights a Scandinavian look. Later in the 1960s and 1970s his interest shifted towards brass and chromed metal. The Reggiani company still exists.

Lamps in the movies

A Reggiani marble and chrome eyeball floor lamp was used as a prop in the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody. A biographical film about the British rock band Queen.

Reggiany Eyeball Floor Lamp used as a prop in the film Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) Lamps in the movies!