![]() Technological advancements honed for the military could now be applied to consumer goods, and the dearth of metals after the war left people creatively embracing new substances. “The bubble lamps typified lighting design in houses,” says Stephen Van Dyk of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, “not only in their biomorphic, space-age shapes, but also their use of new technology.” Maybe it was their innovative use of fiberglass as a shade over a wire frame, or maybe it was their seeming homage to the phases of the moon-whatever their appeal, these bubbles had staying power. Now the chandelier suddenly appeared as…a bubble? George Nelson’s line of pendant lights (commonly known as bubble lamps), featuring sensuous, organic shapes-from perfect spheres, to cigars, to pregnant-looking diamonds-quickly became popular when the Herman Miller furniture company started producing them in the early 1950s. After centuries of designs based on oil or gas flames, there’d been minimal changes to its basic form-with most centering on the number of arms and color of glass. Take the common chandelier as an example. Breaking TraditionĪ squadron of George Nelson bubble lamps appears to be flying in formation across a modern-day Modernica showroom. In Mid-Century Modern, author Cara Greenberg explains, “The members of our parents’ generation were all motivated by the same desire: to escape the stuffy, old-fashioned rooms of their own youths and be, as every young generation wants to be… ‘modern’.” Where lighting was concerned, modern meant a host of new options, most of them decidedly functional, fresh and new. Consumers had less practical reasons for wanting these designs, too. Spurred by the postwar economy, suburbia was growing across the United States, and the influx of smaller, more affordable, housing for returning GIs created a demand for fittings to accomodate the new, downsized footprint of the American Dream. Traditional furnishings-the heavy, ornate, and wooden items crowding Grandma’s house-were giving way to simpler, more streamlined creations. While many folks think of the 1950s as an era of conformity, in the realm of home decor a revolution of sorts was quietly taking place. The PH5 chandelier from Louis Poulsen had an otherworldly appearance-and an otherworldly glow, thanks to its ability to diffuse light both vertically and horizontally. ![]()
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