Temde Cobra Table Lamp

Materials: Round white painted metal base. Purple felt on the bottom. Thick chrome gooseneck. White plastic oval lampshade. Aluminium reflector. Some metal and plastic parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Lampshade: 15 x 25 cm / 5.90 x 9.84”

Height: 53 cm / 20.86” – adjustable

Base: ∅ 18,3 cm / 7.20”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Eva Renée Nele.

Manufacturer: Theodor Müller & Co. Temde-Werk, Detmold, Germany, Switzerland.

Other versions: This Temde Cobra table lamp exists in several colours and was at least also made as a floor lamp and a swing arm floor lamp. This table or desk lamp is model 32, as labelled.

These lamp series received an iF Design Award in 1974.

Fagerhults made a very similar lamp a year later. You can find it over here.

Eva Renée Nele

Eva Renée Nele was born in Berlin, Germany in 1932. She studied at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, where she graduated in 1950. Back in Berlin Eva Renée Nele studied at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst (College of Fine Arts) where she worked with Professor Hans Uhlmann. In Montmartre, Paris, France she went to the famous graphics and printing studio L’Atelier Lacourière-Frélaut.

Eva Renée Nele was awarded numerous times and her works are present in many museums, among others the Viktoria and Albert Museum in London. 

Eva Renée Nele is a sculptor that made large scale metal sculptures and installations. Also other materials such as acrylic were used. A catalogue of her works was printed in 2013 named Yesterday & Tomorrow.

She designed many lamps for the Temde company and worked for it for 20 years since the 1960s. She designed, among others, the Agita, the Mandarin, the Prisma, the Neunauge and the No-Lamp.

Temde-Leuchten

Temde-Leuchten and Temde AG was a German-Swiss manufacturer of lighting fixtures, headquartered in Detmold (North Rhine-Westphalia) and subsidiary in Sevelen, in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Fritz Müller (1889-1964), son of a furniture maker from Lipperland founded the company in 1911 under the name Temde, abbreviated by Theodor Müller, father of the company founder.

In the first years, only wooden lamps were produced. In addition to residential lighting, Temde also produced special products for public facilities and commercial establishments, such as hotels, restaurants, public places and churches. 

Since the 1930s, Temde AG has also been producing lighting elements made of modern materials such as chrome and glass, but wood remained the main material.

In the post-war period, the production of wood-based materials became the basis for new lighting concepts. The use of pressed wood made it possible to build entirely new collections.

Although Fritz Müller expanded the operational infrastructure and his company offered 250 basic models in the mid-1950’s, Temde did not profit so much from the general economic boom of the 1950s. 

 In the 1970s, the metal, glass and plastic materials became more and more important.

Temde filed for bankruptcy in 1986. The Swiss part, Temde AG was deleted from Switzerland commercial register in 2000.

Some designers that worked for the company are: Charles Keller, Max Rutz, Wilhelm Vest, H. Zehnder, Eva Renée Nele Bode and many others.