Bauhaus DESK LAMP, KARL TRABERT, G. SCHANZENBACH & CO CA 1930
One of my favourite “Bauhaus” lamps, because it so clearly shows the marriage between geometry and kinetic functionalism. The idea was that geometry would fascillitate industrial, standardised production on a large scale to provide everyone with affordabable, useful products . Not artistic creativity, but universal geometry was seen as "democratic design". The standardisation however was not meant to be monotonuous. Kinetics would make it possible for the individual to adjust a house and its components, like a big machine to live in.
This lamp from ca 1930 by Karl Trabert indeed looks like a machine. It can be moved back and forth, while the thin rod in the back keeps it straight. The shade has the shape of a perfectly round dome. It is a rare original from the 1930's, still in an amazing condition for its old age.
