1950s Gerald Thurston Torchère Floor Lamp

Because industrial designer Gerald E. Thurston (1914–2005) sketched his designs on sheets of craft paper, rumor has it that manufacturer Lightolier took out an insurance policy on his right hand. Little has been written about Thurston’s work, which was critical to Lightolier’s success, but aficionados of mid-century modern American furniture have long celebrated Thurston’s streamlined light fixtures. For those in the know, the highly sought-after brass and wood Tripod floor lamp exemplifies the kind of sleek and sophisticated products associated with the designer.

Prior to joining Lightolier, Thurston did contract work for Zenith Radio Corporation in the 1930s and then created lighting and decorative pieces for the New Metal Craft Company, both in Chicago, where he’d graduated from the School of the Art Institute. Lightolier, which operated in New York and New Jersey under the name New York Gas and Appliance Co. until electricity had become the company’s main focus, hired Thurston as an in-house designer around 1950. He worked at the manufacturer for approximately three decades.

Thurston’s fixtures met all interior lighting needs. His lamps were sculptural and contemporary, and they had wide appeal — MoMA’s “Good Design” exhibition of 1950, for example, featured a floor lamp of Thurston’s alongside work by Paul McCobb, Greta Magnusson Grossman and more. The lamps’ integration of innovative diffusers, directional capability by way of pivoting mechanisms and more, reflects a venturesome spirit on the part of the designer, who found inspiration in the modernist lighting design experiments being conducted overseas.

In postwar Italy, companies like Arredoluce and their bold offerings, such as the Eye floor lamp by Angelo Lelii, were revolutionizing lighting with creative designs and an unparalleled focus on craftsmanship. Lightolier’s partnership with the Gino Sarfatti–founded Arteluce is said to have influenced Thurston’s work, and likely his Tripod floor lamp, which is no longer in production.

Introduced by Lightolier in the 1960s, Thurston’s sleek fixture, featuring three sockets for bulbs and an enameled aluminum diffuser, sees its set of three lean polished brass stems set off by tapered walnut dowels toward the legs’ bottom. The classic pairing of solid wood details and metal make for an elegant fit in any corner of the home — that is, of course, if you can track one down.

As the leading designer at Lightolier during the postwar building and design boom, Gerald Thurston created his clever lighting — sleek floor lamps, table lamps and desk lamps— to suit the American lifestyles of 1950s and 1960s. His designs were at the forefront of the mid-century modern lighting revolution — like much of the visionary work being done at the time in furniture and interiors, Thurston’s fixtures are both elegant and totally innovative, reflecting the exploration of new ideas and new technology that consumed designers of the era.

Thurston eventually led a stellar team of international lighting designers at Lightolier. He was important to the pioneering East Coast-based electric lighting company, and rumor has it that because he sketched every design on craft paper, the manufacturer insured his right hand for one million American dollars.

While enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1930s, where he earned his degree in industrial design, Thurston worked as a freelance designer for the Zenith Radio Corporation. Once he graduated, he found a position at the New Metal Craft Company. There he designed custom lighting fixtures and decorative objects for architects and interior designers.

Lightolier enticed Thurston to join them in approximately 1950. That same year, New York’s Museum of Modern Art featured a green floor lamp of his in their Good Design Exhibition of 1950. The sculptural lamps that Thurston created for Lightolier are representative of his interest in Scandinavian modernist lighting as well as the revolutionary designs produced by postwar Italian companies such as Arredoluce and Arteluce. (Lightolier partnered with the latter, and Thurston found inspiration in the work of Arteluce founder Gino Sarfatti.)

During Thurston’s decades-long tenure with Lightolier, he became internationally known for his many designs. His modernist fixtures are characterized by clean lines, vibrant colors and an appealing meld of metals and rich woods. His slender-legged Lightolier Tripod floor lamp, introduced in the 1960s, garnered widespread acclaim, while his whimsical Cricket lamp, with its arthropodan shade and slim brass frame, is wholly versatile — it can be hung as a sconce or positioned on a desk and offers direct or diffused light.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Gerald Thurston lighting, decorative objects and more.