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Massive – Wikipedia (in Dutch)
Val Saint Lambert glass art in the Grand Curtius museum in Liege – Wikipedia
Vintageinfo
Massive Night Club Pendant Chandelier
Materials: Black painted metal (iron) parts. Galvanised metal E14 sockets. Coloured crystal hand blown glass: blue, green, pink, blue, orange, purple, brown, white, turquoise.
Cord Length: 150 cm / 59.05” – adjustable
Width: ø 50 cm / 19.68”
Electricity: 7 bulbs E14, 7 x 40 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a white/opaque or frosted one is preferred. Clear bulbs creates stripes on the glass and therefore also on the walls.
Period: 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.
Designer: Nanny Still-Mackinney (1926-2009) – attributed.
Manufacturer: Massive, Mortsel, Kontich and Wommelgem, Belgium.
Other versions: The Massive Night Club pendant chandelier was made as single pendant lamp and also produced with 3 and 5 lamps.
For years it was said, even by Val Saint Lambert, the company that produced the glass parts, that this chandelier was made by Raak Lichtarchitectuur from The Netherlands, but it is not.
This Night Club pendant chandelier or single pendant lamps don’t appear in any catalogue of Raak. Only the Stalactieten (Stalactites) are published, as you can see. Not only they are flush mounts, but the shape is slightly different.
The question remains, is this a design by Nanny Still and made by Massive. Or is this a typical Massive interpretation of a lamp made by others. Many examples of Massive copies can be found on this website. Nanny Still has lived in Belgium for a long time, so it is possible that she designed this lamp for Massive.
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.
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.
Nanny Still
Nanny Elisabet Still Mc Kinney (31 July 1926 – 7 May 2009), is one of the most important modern Finnish designers of glass and ceramics. During the golden age of the Finnish art industry in the 1950s Still belonged to the great names of design.
Still was born in Helsinki and studied at Finland’s Central School of Arts and Crafts (Aalto University) and graduated in 1950. Before the end of her studdies she started working for Riihimäki Lasi (Riihimäen), Finland’s largest glass-works, and remained there until 1976.
Nanny Still designed these lamps in the late 1950s for Raak. It was a colaboration between Raak, Nanny Still and Val Saint Lambert from Belgium.
She designed many years for Raak. Several other lamps were by her hand. For instance, the “Escargot” and the “IJspegel” (Icicle) ceiling lamps appear in the catalogue 12 from 1982.
Nanny Still married in 1958 with American George Mc Kinney and moved to Brussels in 1959.
In 1972 she won the Pro Finlandia medal and in 1954 she received the Diploma of Honor at the Triennale in Milan, Italy.
She designed for Norrmark, Riihimäki, Iitala, Heinrich Porzellan, Rosenthal Studios, Val Saint Lambert and Raak Amsterdam.
Nanny Elisabet Still Mc Kinney passed away at the age of 82 in Brussels, Belgium in 2009.
Val Saint Lambert
Val Saint Lambert is a crystal and glass factory in the Belgian city of Seraing, southwest of Liège, which produces decorative glass, glass and crystal arts and crafts. The factory is located in the abbey of Val Saint Lambert, the former Cistercian abbey of Saint Lambert. In 1826 the founders of the crystal factory settled in the favorable site, due to the large buildings available, the proximity of coal and the possibility of transport across the river Meuse. Today Val-Saint-Lambert is present in more than forty countries. One can visit the factory and see glass blowers at work.
Val Saint Lambert or Val St. Lambert was founded by chemist François Kemlin and polytechnic (Master of Science in Engineering) Auguste Lelièvre in 1826. François Kemlin had previously worked for the Vonêche crystal works in the Ardennes, also in Belgium. Val Saint Lambert is well known for its Art Nouveau and Art Deco glass pieces.
Massive Night Club pendant chandelier publicity in the Dutch magazine Ideaal Wonen September 1970 (Ideal Living)
1959 award winning documentary made by the Dutch Bert Haanstra about glass-blowing.
Many thanks to Marjan from Vintage Drachten for the beautiful pictures and the enthusiasm. Many thanks to Fred for the very important Massive publicity of this lamp.