Accepted as one of the most winning works of the Staatliches Bauhaus or the Bahaus School of Walter Gropius, the German industrial creator Wilhelm Wagenfeld brought life to some of the world’s most prominent industrial designs. And of all the styles he has made in his lifetime, possibly none were as notorious as his Wagenfeld Lampe.

It is said that a man is greatly identified by his talent. If that were the case, then for Wilhelm Wagenfeld it would be the Wagenfeld Lampe. Regard as by numerous Wagenfeld’s most popular design, the Wagenfeld Lampe is a mall glass and steel table lamp composed of a flat, disc-like base, a tubelike lamp stand, and an ivory-white clear glass lampshade. Wagenfeld designed the Lampe in partnership with Karl Jacob Jucker in 1924 at the time of their journeyman years at the Staatliches Bauhaus. The lamp was said to have been made as the solution to an assignment handed out to Wagenfeld by one of his professors, the Hungarian artist and Bauhaus administrator Lazlo Moholy-Nagy.

Although it is one work, the Wagenfeld is presently manufactured in two distinct versions. In the first type, the base and stand are completed from industrial grade nickel-plated steel. Wagenfeld Lampes have also been done with chrome-plated steel, thiugh the nickel-plated ones are much more sought after and can easily be identified through the yellowish patina the nickel gives off over time. In the second kind, on the other hand, the base and stand are finished from clear plate glass. The stand on the glass version also features a nickel-plated steel tube in its inner core where the electrical feed line is housed, and presents the Lampe an “x-ray” look.

Currently, Technolumen, a company that concentrates in reproducing Bauhaus designs, is the official manufacturer of the Wagenfeld Lampe.