George Nelson Bubble Lamp History

The nelson bubble lamp collection designed by george nelson includes pendants wall sconces floor lamps and table lamps.

George nelson bubble lamp history. The story behind their creation is best told in the words of george nelson himself. Nelson designed the first bubble lamp in 1947 incorporating a self webbing plastic that was developed for military use. His firm george nelson associates also designed a large series of wall and table clocks for the howard miller company as well as a range of hanging bubble lamps which had plastic membrane covered wire form shades wrought iron fireplace pieces planters room dividers ceiling mounted ribbon wall spice cabinets and many other products. The history of george nelson s bubble lamp ingenuity innovation and swedish inspiration over seven decades ago george nelson an influential designer of mid century modernism in america came across a set of hanging lamps from sweden and loved everything about their aesthetic.

In 1952 herman miller branched in to the lighting industry with the introduction of the george nelson bubble lamps premiering a new material application that was predominantly used by the u s. George nelson never named the different lamp designs and they were simply given numbers by howard miller. George nelson s bubble lamps are familiar icons of modernism. Somehow evocative of both paper lanterns and the space race they have a warm simplicity that is always in style.

Military at the time the material was a soft yet durable plastic that was spray coated around a steel wire frame changing the game of mid century lighting for years to come.