Staff Pendant Lamp 5517 Duo

Staff pendant lamp 5517 design: Arnold Berges round brown hexagonal perforated plastic lampshade metal reflector 1970s

Staff Pendant Lamps 5518 Duo – 1974 Catalogue Picture

Staff label and a plastic label on a cord, hanging on one of these lamps.

Lamps In The Movies

De Collega’s (1978-1981)

A Staff table lamp model 1164, a brown version, was used as a prop in the Belgian comedy TV series De Collega’s. It was aired for three seasons between September 1978 and February 1981 on the BRT, the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Region and Community of Belgium. The series was re-transmitted on Eclips TV in 2019 and 2020.

Materials: Round brown metallic painted plastic lampshade. Hexagonal round perforated design on top. Chromed metal mirror/reflector. Porcelain E27 socket.

Cord Lenght: 120 cm / 47.24”

Height: 15 cm / 5.90”

Width: ∅ 20 cm / 7.87”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 100 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, but a silver tipped light bulb is recommended.

Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Arnold Berges (no information can be found about the designer).

Manufacturer:Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerke GMBH, Lemgo, Germany.

Other versions: This Staff pendant lamp 5517 exists in several sizes and colours. Also made as a wall lamp, spotlight, spotlight on rail, table lamp, floor lamp. Versions were made for a normal bulb, but also for a PAR 38 spotlight.

Model number: 5517 – 100 watt. The name of the lamp is Duo.

Models 5508, 5509, 5518, 5519, the same lamps but different colours, received an iF Design Award in 1973. (discipline: product) Also the table lamp model 1163 (yellow) and 1165 (white), floor lamp (model 1169) and the wall lamp (model 1176) were awarded.

Staff

Staff Leuchten – Staff & Schwarz Leuchtenwerke (lighting plant) was founded in 1945 in Lemgo, (West) Germany by Alfred Staff (1908–1989) and Otto Schwarz (1902–1951). After the war they left the Soviet occupation zone and set up a small three-man business in Lemgo producing consumer goods in wood and metal, repair work and pesticide against the Colorado potato beetle. The location in Westphalia-Lippe was chosen deliberately: the area already had veneer and lighting manufacturers, which made it a natural base for a new lighting company.

In 1946 Staff produced its first wrought-iron lamps, followed by large orders for spa complexes in the region. After the death of Otto Schwarz in 1951,Alfred Staff took over all shares and shifted the focus from project lighting to serial production of innovative, design-oriented luminaires.

From the late 1950s onwards the company became one of Germany’s most decorated lighting manufacturers. Staff was among the first winners of the “Gute Industrieform” (today iF Design) awards at the Hanover Fair, and over the next three decades collected more than 200 design prizes. In the 1960s the firm built up an international sales network, introduced the Variolux electronic dimmer (1966) and launched Lite-Trac (1967), one of the first VDE-compliant track lighting systems, which helped to position Staff as a pioneer in architectural and technical lighting.

Staff collaborated with numerous designers, including Rolf Krüger, Motoko Ishii, Kazuo Motozawa, Arnold Berges, Gerhard Beigel, Alfred Kalthoff and others. Several Japanese designs originally created for Yamagiwa – such as Motozawa’s Saturno series – were marketed in Europe by Staff, while some Staff models were licensed to other brands. In the 1970s the company published a joint catalogue with Stilnovo, and lamps from Staff appeared in catalogues from Raak, the Netherlands, and the Danish Lyfa, among others.

In the early 1990s the Austrian Zumtobel Group gradually acquired the company: in 1993 it took a majority stake, and by 1994 owned 100% of the shares. The lighting activities were continued under the brand Zumtobel Staff, with the Staff name remaining in use until 2006. The Lemgo factory is still one of Zumtobel’s key production sites for spotlights and lighting systems.