Gubi

Bestlite BL1 Table lamp metal black / Réédition de 1930

Enter the legend! Adopted by Winston Churchill, the cult Bestlite lamp has finally been reissued! Made famous and then forgotten, the Bestlite lamp has had a highly unorthodox history! Influenced by the Bahaus movement, in the 1930s, Britain’s Robert Dudley Best created an articulated metal lamp that was both sober and functional. The BL1 lamp offers mobile lighting while at the same time being perfectly stable. Too avant-garde for the time, this lamp with its simple lines is far from the decorative overload that was fashionable at the time. In its early years, it was mostly used in auto repair shops. Very quickly, its modernity of design and quality of use would win over the most innovative of English architects. In 1932, the British magazine Architects saw the first creation to come from the Bauhaus in the United Kingdom. The BL1 definitively found its place in history when Winston Churchill made it his desk lamp in Whitehall. The pride of England, Bestlite lamps then found their way into Buckingham Palace, the Titanic, Downing Street, the Orient-Express ... then fell into oblivion. We had to wait until the 1990s for Bestlite lamps to come back into fashion... One day in 1989, Danish designer Gubi Olsen was walking through the centre of Copenhagen. In a shoe shop, he found a lamp that caught his attention. He learnt that this lamp was a Bestlite manufactured by Best & Lloyd in Birmingham for over 60 years. Only 15 employees were now left working in the old premises. Convinced of this lamp’s potential, Gubi Olsen set off for England and acquired marketing rights in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia. Soon, the Best & Lloyd company closed its doors and Gubi Olsen took over production, allowing a remarkable return of Bestlite lamps on the international scene. The BL1 is now part of the permanent collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The BL1 table lamp is entirely made of metal: a chromed metal arm, with a lampshade and base in thermo-lacquered metal. The cable is surrounded by textile. Ultra-functional, the BL1 lets you direct the light with precision. The lampshade is adjustable. The arm supporting the lampshade rotates: it turns 360° around the upright. Thanks to its joint, it can also be oriented on the vertical plane. Finally, you can adjust the height of the lamp by sliding the arm along the upright (H 51 / 84 cm). The industrial look of this lamp is sensational. Its perfectly functionalist style and formal humility give the impression of aesthetic neutrality. A timeless design that’s just as stylish today. Robert Dudley Best spent a decade designing Bestlite models. Very complete, the collection consists of table lamps, floor lamps, wall lights and pendants.

In detail:

• Variation : Laiton noir

• Brand : Gubi

• Designer : Robert Dudley Best

• Type : Table lamp

• Colour : Structure en laiton noir / diffuseur noir

• Material : Structure : laiton - Câble entouré de textile

• Dimensions : Hauteur réglable : de 51 à 84 cm (hauteur tige fixe : H 45 cm / hauteur bras amovible : H 42 cm) - Base : Ø 21 cm - Abat-jour : Ø 16 cm x H 14 cm - Câble : 200 cm
• Weight : 6.6 lb
• Characteristics : Réédition du modèle original de 1930 - Abat-jour orientable - Bras rotatif à 360°, orientable et réglable en hauteur - Ampoule (non fournie) : 1 x Halogène économie d'énergie 30W E14 - Interrupteur On/off - Supplied with EU plug: EU to UK plug adapter included
• Country of Manufacture : China