VEB Leuchtenbau Desk Lamp

Materials: Light yellow painted curved round metal (iorn) base. Iron counterweight inside the base. Conical black plastic tube. Curved chrome rod. Light yellow painted aluminium half round lampshade with two elongated slots. Curved chrome rod. Some metal parts. Bakelite E27 socket.

Height: 60 cm / 23.62”

Lampshade: ∅ 25 cm / 9.84”

Base: ∅ 16 cm / 6.29”

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, 1980s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: VEB Leuchtenbau, Lengefeld, Germany.

Other versions: This VEB Leuchtenbau desk lamp exists in several colours. Also produced with a chrome gooseneck. The base was used for several other desk lamps.

VEB Leuchtenbau

The VEB Leuchtenbau company was founded in 1900 as Wittig und Schwabe Metalldruckwarenfabriken (Metal Printing Factories), Lengefeld. Right after World War II in 1946, the name changed into VEB Leuchtenbau. In 1963 they manufactured some 1.5 million lamps, of which 80% were exported. In 1965 they produced 120 different models of lamps.

One of the most famous lamps produced by VEB Leuchtenbau is the Kontrast floor lamp, designed by Lutz Rudolf in 1961, when he was 25. The manufacturer himself doubted the success of “this thing” and planned only a small number of pieces.

However, the production was carried through until 1975, in which 11,000 pieces were produced. The GDR citizens at that time were fortunate that the product landed mainly on the domestic East German market, which was not the case with all the design objects. Despite colorfully designed variants, the majority of customers opted for the original, simple-white design of the lampshades of this floor lamp.

Designers that worked for the VEB Leuchtenbau companies were, among others: Lutz Rudolf, Peter Beyer, Udo Domröse, Klaus Neubert, Andreas Kuhnhardt, Theo Schröder, Hans-Jürgen Weiß, Christian Wagner…

VEB: Volks Eigener Betrieb – Publicly-owned business.  VEB was the main legal form of industrial enterprise in the communist East Germany.