W.H. Gispen (1890-1981)
GISO ‘Heerenbureaulamp No.406/5013’
Design: Rotterdam 1929
Execution: NV Gispen Culemborg The Netherlands 1935-1939.
Height 40 cm, width approx. 30 cm
Adjustable modernist desk lamp with rotating reflector, burnished brass fixture and bakelite switch in the base. Completely original, functioning lamp with a very beautiful patina of which only the wiring has been renewed.
History of the design;
In 1928 the Dutch designer and manufacturer W.H. Gispen first designed a smaller version of this desk lamp, the GISO No.405. A year later, the larger No.406 was introduced in the GISO catalog no.25 as ‘Gentleman’s desk lamp’, the smaller 405 was from then also referred to as ‘Ladies’ desk lamp’.
In 1929, the lamp was equipped with a rotary switch in the socket that was operated with a button on the side of the “head” in which the reflector rotates. This version, with a long cylindrical pressure switch through a small hole in the base, was introduced in catalog No. 30 from 1935/36, the type number of the lamp then changed from 406 to 5013.
From 1939 on, in catalog no. 32, the lamp is depicted with a flatter base, equipped with a normal pressure switch and a modified hinge at the bottom of the adjustable arm. This allows us to identify the lamp here on offer as a GISO ‘Gentleman’s desk lamp’ made in the period 1935/36-1939.
Please contact us for information, price or an appointment for a visit to our gallery >
