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Anglepoise Type 75 Desk Lamp, Margaret Howell Edition

For most people who grew up in the 90’s, you’d probably recognize this piece as the “Pixar Lamp.” That is, the anthropomorphic task lamp that jumped on its own, only to creepily turn to you, breaking the fourth wall, just before that year’s big-budget animation release. The task lamp in that Pixar clip is actually “Luxo L-1,” invented by Jac Jacobsen in 1937, then made into a character of a Pixar short film called “Luxo Jr.” in 1986. 

Just 5 years before the Luxo L-1 was invented, George Carwardine, former Chief Designer and suspension specialist of Horstmann Car Company (which went bankrupt) created the Anglepoise model 1208 prototype. Instead of using a counterweight to balance the lamp, Carwardine implemented four constant tension springs, two at the base and two at the midpoint of the lamp, which provided unprecedented flexibility and stability for a task lamp. A year later, after substantial demand, the piece was offered a general release. Here is a look at the 1208 general release:

Anglepoise went on to release various task lamps through the 20th century, all rooted in the original design and function of the 1208, with reworks of the shape of the lamp head and size of the lamp overall for both domestic and workplace settings. You can see a product history of Anglepoise here.

The piece I bought earlier this year, after starting to work from home, was the Type 75 reissue by esteemed British fashion designer Margaret Howell. Drawing on an original Yellow Ochre matte pastel colorway of the 1973 ‘Model 90’ and the Type 75 design of Sir Kenneth Grange’s 2004 offering (an homage to the Apex 90 and Model 75), the Type 75 Margaret Howell Edition is the best of British design history, spanning the automotive, workplace, and fashion industries. Here is a look of the 2012 Type 75 at my desk:

The lamp does appear light and friendly, but make no mistake - this thing is formidable. The caste-iron base plate is very heavy, splaying out to a generous ~7.5 inch diameter. The rotation and springs can match any desired contortion, and it shines bright. 

The trend of Anglepoise since the 1208 has been to re-invent themselves with each design, drawing on previous profiles for fresh appearances. The constant trend in function, however, has been to scrap the four spring mechanism for three springs at the base (when they choose to keep springs at all). Given Anglepoise’s trend of re-inventing their own original classic designs, my guess is that we we can likely foresee a re-issue in the next decade or so, with four springs to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the 1208 in 2032.

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Danish ‘Unicorn’ Chair

First post is the first chair: an unknown Danish easy chair with cut-ins on the armrests and front handles. The arms slope back, curving into points at the elbows that are trimmed neatly at both sides. The spindle-backed seat has a folding mechanism, where the backrest is joined to the seat by two small hinges. It sits quite deeply and noticeably at a tilt. 

There are no markings on this chair aside from a “Made in Denmark” engraving that I stupidly sanded off when I first refinished this chair (it was also my first project). 

I’ve shown this chair to major vintage furniture distributors, posted it on forums, torn through old Danish furniture catalogs, and I haven’t found any trace of the designer. There are aspects of it that are similar to Ib Kofod-Larsen’s ‘G-Plan’ easy chair, with the elbow points and tasteful front arch across the seat. But instead of cut-ins on the arms, Larsen’s more common lounge’s bow out for more elbow room. There is the ‘Kandidaten’ chair as well, but these cut-ins dip through the whole arm, not just the back end. It can’t be a Folke Ohlsson DUX chair, as they were made in Sweden, but they do show some major similarities in overall profile. 

In many ways, this chair set me up for taking an interest in vintage modern furniture. When I bought it off of Craigslist, it was only after taking it home that I realized how scratchy and messy the finish was, and how the dowels across the bottom of the seat were totally loose. If you sat in the chair long enough, the bottom would just fall out. 

This set me on the path to try and restore the chair on my own, and to figure out where it came from. Here it is before restoration:

I’ve tightened the dowels, and the bottom no longer falls out, but I’m no closer to discerning its origins. For now I’ve resolved to call it the ‘Unicorn’ chair, as one of the dealers that I showed it to remarked, “Looks like you’ve got a unicorn.”