Vintageinfo – All About Vintage Lighting

Vintageinfo Google Search

The content of this website is subject to copyright. It is forbidden to copy the text for any purpose, including commercial uses such as the sale of lamps through e-commerce websites. Please respect the work of the owner. Thank you in advance.

All Rights Reserved. Please link to the items, do not copy!

Marble & Reed Table Lamp

Materials: Square chrome base. Brown marble cylinder and globe. Some chrome and brass parts. Gold painted iron reed or palm leaves. Brown velours (not velvet) round conical lampshade with gold foil inside. Brass pine cone on top. Bakelite E14 sockets.

Height: 73 cm / 28.74”

Width: 35,5 cm / 13.97”

Base: 11 x 11 cm / 4.33 x 4.33”

Electricity: 3 bulbs E14, 3 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s, 1980s – Hollywood Regency.

Designer: To be appraised, probably inspired by a lamp designed by Maison Charles, Paris: “Vase Roseaux” (reeds vase) and often sold as a Maison Charles or Maison Jansen table lamp. The Maison Charles table lamps always have a stamp in the metal on the back of the foot with the company’s name on. The Vase Roseaux is still in production, you can find it on the website of Maison Charles.

Manufacturer: Société Anonyme Boulanger, Anderlecht, Belgium.

Other versions: This marble & reed table lamp exists in some varieties. Other colours of marble were used. These lamps were made in many versions, you can find several examples here on Vintageinfo.

S.A. Boulanger

S.A. Boulanger was founded in Anderlecht, Belgium in 1945. The company is famous for the large amount of lights it produced that were designed by Gaetano Sciolari. At some point in the 1980s the company changed their name in Les Ateliers Boulanger NV.

It has long been thought that they were two different companies, but that is because a trader from Liège, Belgium persisted that the lamps came from Herstal, near Liège.

In 1996 the company had 11 employees. The firm moved in 1998 to the Martelarenlaan 155 in 3010 Kessel-Lo, near Leuven. In the period 1995 – 2001 Jean-Philippe Spalart was the CEO. He did a feasibility study for the transfer of the company to China, Eastern Europe and Africa. Relocation of the manufacture in Zimbabwe.

Boulanger was specialised in metal processing and manufacturers high-end lamps and lighting fixtures. Les Ateliers Boulanger ended business in 2006.

Massive & Boulanger

Massive sold several Boulanger models over the years. The only difference is the typical Massive canopy/ceiling cap and some other parts.

Old text from the 1990s

Boulanger sells mainly in the high-end lighting markets in BelgiumGermany and Luxembourg. The growing sales in the US and in South Africa are of growing importance to the company. Due to the highly competitive market, having product with a high added value is very important. The intelligent lamp is an important advantage, compared to our competitors, and will increase our market share in an important way.

The most important local competitors are Massive, a Belgian company, market leader in Europe (turnover of 100 MEUR), Deknudt at Deerlijk (turnover 2.5 MEUR) and some 10 other Belgian competitors of its own size. There is important competition from southern European and Asian competitors. The market share of Boulanger is only a few percent of the share of the Belgian companies. It is a small company with a turnover of about 300 k EURO.”

“Most Boulanger lamps are low voltage and halogen lamps (220V up to 300W or 12V up to 50W).
The products are sold to retail shops. In Belgium, about 300 retail shops sell its products. There are around 40 retail shops abroad: Luxembourg, Germany, France and South Africa.”

Lamps in the movies

S.A. Boulanger reed table lamp was used as a prop in the 2016 French-Belgian television thriller series Zone Blanche (White zone but named Black spot). Starring Suliane BrahimHubert Delattre and Laurent Capelluto. Many other lamps were used as a prop. You can find several of them over here.

S.A. Boulanger reed table lamp used a s prop in the 2016 Zone Blanche TV Series

S.A. Boulanger ostrich egg table lamp was used as a prop in the French comedy film Potiche from 2010. Starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu.

Boulanger ostrich egg table lamp used as a prop in the French comedy film Potiche (2010)