Lot 196
JOHN & SYLVIA REID (BRITISH 1925-1992 & 1924-2022) FOR ROTAFLEX, GREAT BRITAIN
TRI-ARM PENDANT CEILING LIGHT, c.1955-60
Auction: 30 October from 10:00 GMT
Description
manufacturer's applied label (to inside of ceiling rose), teak, flex and each arm supporting a spun acetate pendant shade from the Rotaflex ‘Lanterns’ range
Dimensions
79cm high, 58.5cm wide (31 1/8in high, 23in wide)
Provenance
From a Private Collection of Post-War British Lighting.
Footnote
Literature:
Society of Industrial Artists, Designers in Britain 5, Andre Deutsch Limited, London, 1957, p.70, for a Rotaflex exhibition stand (likely 1956), designed by John & Sylvia Reid, featuring a large number of acetate shade types / shapes from the Rotaflex Pendants range.
The seminal Light Fittings article in Architectural Review (November 1952) likely brought knowledge of the Reids to an émigré artist called Bernard Stern.
Stern licensed the spun acetate production technique from a Danish inventor called Bendt Hojberg Pedersen, and founded Rotaflex in 1953, employing the Reids as design consultants from c.1954/55.