Koch And Lowy Tripod Floor Lamp
Vintage 1980s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Enamel, Steel
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
Recent Sales
Vintage 1980s American Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Enamel
Vintage 1980s American Floor Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1980s Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1980s American Modern Floor Lamps
Steel, Iron
Vintage 1960s Floor Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
20th Century American Modern Floor Lamps
Vintage 1970s American Floor Lamps
Chrome
1990s American Modern Floor Lamps
Steel
Vintage 1980s Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1980s American Modern Floor Lamps
Vintage 1980s American Post-Modern Floor Lamps
Metal
People Also Browsed
Vintage 1970s Italian Post-Modern Sectional Sofas
Steel
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
Canvas, Walnut
Late 20th Century Swedish Scandinavian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
21st Century and Contemporary Asian Mid-Century Modern Benches
Iron
21st Century and Contemporary British Organic Modern Wall Lights and Sco...
Plaster
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1950s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Sofas
Wool, Cotton, Beech
2010s Canadian Coffee and Cocktail Tables
Copper
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers an...
Aluminum, Brass
2010s Turkish Arts and Crafts Tables
Marble
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Nickel
Vintage 1970s French Mid-Century Modern Wardrobes and Armoires
Brass
2010s Austrian Jugendstil Chandeliers and Pendants
Silk
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Leather
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Metal
Koch & Lowy for sale on 1stDibs
Collectors know Koch & Lowy for its eye-catching sold brass five-arm chandeliers, sleek chrome swing-arm floor lamps and clever table lamps with marble bases. With a wide range of sculptural mid-century modern and 1970s-era fixtures created by the likes of George Nelson, Karl Springer, Piotr Sierakowski and others, the American lighting manufacturer elevated the design of furniture and home decor from the postwar era onward.
Ernest Lowy founded Koch & Lowy in New York in 1946, initially running the firm with his son, Thomas. Over the years, collaborations with notable designers such as American artist Neal Small — known as the “Prince of Plastic” for his innovative use of Plexiglas and Lucite — yielded iconic pieces such as Koch & Lowy’s biomorphic, clear-glass pendant lights and wall sconces for German manufacturer Peill and Putzler as well as the rare Half Nelson table lamp.
Created by George Nelson — an architect, journalist and designer who brought a slew of legendary designers to Herman Miller while he was director of design at the company — the Half Nelson table lamp, with its striking form and shade of spun aluminum, was originally designed in 1950 as part of an architectural project of Nelson’s on Long Island. Koch & Lowy put it into production in the late 1970s.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Koch & Lowy floor lamps gained wide acclaim. Neal Small’s architectural aluminum periscope Skyscraper floor lamp and their Pharmacy tent floor lamp, which Thomas Lowy admitted he copied unwittingly from Omaha architect Cedric Hartman, were particularly popular.
“I’d bought a tent [lamp] in Italy, but it had been made so badly that I decided to make a better one,” Lowy explained to the New York Times in 1976. “I didn’t know that the Italian one wasn’t original. I didn’t know it was a copy of Hartman’s design.”
Nevertheless, Koch & Lowy enjoyed success designing and producing innovative lighting fixtures and other furniture such as the brutalist Mirage coffee table, created by Polish designer and head of Koch & Lowy’s design department, Piotr Sierakowski.
While Thomas Lowy sold the company in the 1990s, the brand’s impact on modernist lighting design endures.
On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Koch & Lowy lighting and tables.
Finding the Right Floor-lamps for You
The modern floor lamp is an evolution of torchères — tall floor candelabras that originated in France as a revolutionary development in lighting homes toward the end of the 17th century. Owing to the advent of electricity and the introduction of new materials as a part of lighting design, floor lamps have taken on new forms and configurations over the years.
In the early 1920s, Art Deco lighting artisans worked with dark woods and modern metals, introducing unique designs that still inspire the look of modern floor lamps developed by contemporary firms such as Luxxu.
Popular mid-century floor lamps include everything from the enchanting fixtures by the Italian lighting artisans at Stilnovo to the distinctly functional Grasshopper floor lamp created by Scandinavian design pioneer Greta Magnusson-Grossman to the Paracarro floor lamp by the Venetian master glass workers at Mazzega. Among the more celebrated names in mid-century lighting design are Milanese innovators Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, who, along with their eldest brother, Livio, worked for their own firm as architects and designers. While Livio departed the practice in 1952, Achille and Pier Giacomo would go on to design the Arco floor lamp, the Toio floor lamp and more for legendary lighting brands such as FLOS.
Today’s upscale interiors frequently integrate the otherworldly custom lighting solutions created by a wealth of contemporary firms and designers such as Spain’s Masquespacio, whose Wink floor lamps integrate gold as well as fabric fringes.
Visual artists and industrial designers have a penchant for floor lamps, possibly because they’re so often a clever marriage of design and the functions of lighting. A good floor lamp can change the mood of any room while adding a touch of elegance to your entire space. Find yours now on 1stDibs.