When the word “industrial design” is mentioned, people commonly think of large, bulky machines used in factories. However, this is only very far from the truth. Simply defined, industrial design describes designs for furniture, appliances and other products that were made with good aesthetics and commercial viability in mind. This means that the product should both look attractive and marketable enough for a consumer to take notice. Industrial design came about in the same period as the modernist Bauhaus movement in the early 20th century, and one of the designs that helped pioneer it is the iconic Wagenfeld Lampe by Wilhelm Wagenfeld.

One of the classic examples of industrial design, the Wagenfeld Lampe is a steel and glass table lamp consisting of a disc-shaped base, a long cylindrical shaft, and a semi-spherical glass lampshade. The design was conceptualized by German industrial designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld in collaboration with fellow designer Karl Jacob Jucker in 1924 during their stay at the prestigious Bahaus design school in Germany. As the story goes, Wagenfeld was said to have created the Lampe design as part of the solution to an exercise given to him by his professor, Hungarian artist and Bahaus director Lazlo Moholy-Nagy. This Bahaus roots eventually gave the Wagenfeld Lampe design the moniker “Bahaus Lamp”.

Despite being inspired by the industrialism, the Wagenfeld Lampe was originally made by hand. This painstaking and time-consuming method of production is in line with the detailed craftsmanship prevalent in designs produced in the Bahaus school. This high quality of workmanship, however, and the lamp’s simple geometric shapes earned Wagenfeld and Jucker the praise of critics, calling it an efficient design and the purest form of the industrial movement.

Currently, the Wagenfeld Lampe is made in two forms. In the first version, the base and shaft of the Lampe is made from high grade steel coated with nickel. The nickel coating gives ample protection to the steel against deterioration and gives off an attractive yellowish patina over time. On the other hand, in the second version the lamp both the shaft is constructed from thick glass. Both forms of the Lampe, however, share the same globular lampshade made from mouth-blown opalescent glass.

Although it was designed in 1924, it was not until the 1980s that the Wagenfeld Lampe was produced commercially in large quantities. Nearly 55 years after its creation, the Wagenfeld Lampe design was put into production by Bremen-based Technolumen and was the company’s sole product for several years. Technolumen later expanded to accommodate other Bahaus designers, but Wagenfeld’s industrial design still remains as its premier asset.