Gubi 1965 Pendant Soft Black Lamp by Paavo Tynell

Paavo Tynell, who was born in Helsinki, Finland in 1890, started his career as a tin- and blacksmith at the company Kory Oy. Simultaneously, he studied at the Helsinki University of Industrial Arts, from which he graduated as a master craftsman in 1913. In 1918, Tynell co-founded the metalwork and lighting company Oy Taito Ab. At first, the company focused mostly on interior and exterior metalwork, such as statues and railings. Later, during the 1930s, Taito also began producing lamps for the lighting sector. Both Alvar Aalto and Kaj Franck would design works for the company.

Iconic Danish furniture and lighting manufacturer Gubi was founded in Copenhagen by designer-couple Lisbeth and Gubi Olsen in 1967. The brand is celebrated globally for its innovative chairs, lighting fixtures, mirrors, sofas and other furnishings and decor. 

The company began as a platform to manufacture the textiles and furniture designed by Lisbeth and Gubi. Soon, the business model broadened. While recent contemporary pieces manufactured by Gubi such as GamFratesi’s Beetle chair have become darlings of today’s interiors, the company is also widely known as a leader in reissuing exquisite Scandinavian and other mid-century modern furniture by a range of design legends. 

Swedish architect and interior designer Greta Magnusson Grossman — the first woman to receive a prize for furniture design from the Swedish Society of Industrial Design — emigrated to the United States and built 14 homes in Los Angeles in the postwar era that were inspired by the Case Study Houses. She furnished these homes with her own designs, and her impossibly sleek Grasshopper table lamps and floor lamps — created for Barker Bros. but today made by Gubi — were frequent fixtures in the interiors. Another Scandinavian architect and industrial designer, Louis Weisdorf designed the wildly popular Multi-Lite line of lighting fixtures, which were originally created during the early 1970s and reissued by Gubi in 2016.

Beyond lighting, Spanish designer Barbara Corsini created the distinctively geometric Pedrera coffee table during the mid-1950s that is now made by Gubi, while the Hungarian-born French master of postwar design, Mathieu Matégot, created the Tropique dining table and an elegant three-legged Nagasaki chair, both of which were reissued by the Danish brand. French furniture designer Pierre Paulin created the inviting, organically shaped Pacha lounge chair in 1975. This design yielded a loveseat and a sofa as well. All of these pieces were reissued by Gubi.

Since 2001, Gubi founders’ son, Jacob Olsen, has managed the company, and travels the world to find heirs to the iconic designers of yesteryear in order to secure permission to give their works a second life. 

On 1stDibs, find Gubi lighting, seating, tables and more.