Vintage Bauhaus Kaiser Idell desk lamp by Christian Dell

Christian Dell, model Kaiser Idell 6631 President Desk Lamp. Made of steel and chrome. Screen lacquered in black high gloss, foot and arm chromed steel. Minor traces of wear and scratches. Christian Dell was born in Offenbach am Main in Hesse. From 1907-11 he completed the silver forging studies at the academy. In 1912-13 he studied at the Saxon college of arts and crafts in Weimar. From 1922-25 he worked as a foreman of the metal workshop at the Bauhaus in Weimar. In 1926 he changed to the Frankfurt art school (Städelschule). The Nazi Party did not allow him to stay there in 1933, but Walter Gropius offered him a job in the United States. However, Dell decided to remain in Germany. After World War II, Dell manufactured silver goods and opened a jewellery shop in Wiesbaden in 1948, which he operated until 1955. He died in Wiesbaden in 1974. Beginning in 1926 Dell sketched lights, at first for the New Frankfurt-project. As an early industrial designer and pioneer of plastic design, Dell used bakelite and aminoplastics as materials for his works for Molitor-Zweckleuchten in 1929-30. Well known are the lights for the lamp factory Gebr. Kaiser & Co. in Neheim Hüsten beginning in 1933-34, which were produced in large quantities. The Kaiser Idell brand and production of lamps are owned by the Danish design company Fritz Hansen. The most famous work of Bauhaus designer Christian Dell, the Kaiser Idell lighting range is a classic of 20th-century design and an enduring symbol of the Bauhaus legacy. Kaiser Idell lamps, designed by Dell (1893-1974) throughout the 1930s, were produced by Gebr. Kaiser & Co in Neheim-Hüsten, Germany. The range includes floor lamps, articulated “scissor” wall lamps, and desk lamps, often featuring lacquered metal structures in black or bold, primary colors. The collection was first promoted in Kaiser Leuchten’s 1936 catalogue, but models were put into production as early as 1933-4. For the remainder of the 1930s and until the outbreak of the Second World War, up to 700 copies were produced annually. Early edition lamps in the collection were imprinted with “Original JDell,” and later versions manufactured in the mid- to late-1930s were marked “Original Kaiser Idell” with the logo forming a circle around the head of the lamp. The history of the Kaiser Leuchten factory took a darker turn during the war, when the factory was destroyed, and many laborers who were forcibly employed there were killed in 1943. After the war, the factory was rebuilt and lamps were put into production once more and remained so until the late 1970s when the company was acquired by the Thorn Lighting Group. Today, vintage Kaiser Idell lamps remain highly sought-after on the secondary market.