Enrique Franch Miret Table Lamps

Calder table lamp designed in 1975 by Enric Franch for Metalarte, Spain. Sculptural table lamp with a counterweight that can move in any direction. Black lacquered metal with light i...

Calder is one of the most emblematic objects of Catalan design in the seventies. Metalarte was responsible for creating a quality office lamp that could compete with the Italian lamps of the day. It was the time of Richard Sapper's Tizio lamp, which was highly successful due to its functionality and sculptural character. Designed for management offices, it should be placed on high quality, usually large, tables. This implied a luxury object, not for the general public, but for a very specific sector of users, while mobility was an essential objective. It is supported on a very heavy, tapered base, which gives it stability, which at the same time hides the transformer inside, and where the rotary knob for adjusting the light intensity is located. At the top of the base is a horizontal cut that allows the lamp to rotate completely. The arm, almost a meter long, rests on the base with a triangular piece that allows the swing and at each end it has a sphere: one is the screen and the other, much heavier, is the counterbalance that balances the off-center position of the support foot. All parts are made of black lacquered aluminum, except for the tube that forms the arm, which is iron for superior bending resistance, and the grip handle, which is plastic. All elements are black, giving it the formality that required it. The sculptural proposal of Enrique Franch surprised by the originality, while fulfilling precisely all the features that had been proposed. The old scales...