MT 8 Table Lamp
This MT 8 table lamp with a hemispherical glass globe was designed by Bauhaus students Wilhelm Wagenfeld (1900-1990) and Karl Jacob Jucker (1902-1997). It was of chrome-plated metal and 16 3/4 inches high. It was probably exhibited at the first full-scale exhibition of the Bauhaus held in Weimar, during two weeks in August. It is evidence of the new design philosophy of László Moholy-Nagy who had just taken over the metal shops, and who pointed the school to a more severe and simple style, with common manufacturing materials, and a focus on mass production. The lamp was manufactured in Dessau, Germany, an early example of student designs that were mass-produced. Reproductions of the lamp are available from the Museum of Modern Art. Wilhelm Wagenfeld was born in Germany, trained as goldsmith and studied drawing at Hanau before becoming Bauhaus student in 1923 in metal workshops under László Moholy-Nagy. He left the Bauhaus in 1929 and worked in porcelain and glass with Lausitzer Glasverein from 1935 to 1938. In 1938 he designed Kubusgeschirr (Cube ware) a range of stacking glass kitchen storage containers as artistic director of Lausitzer Glasverein. He also worked with Jenaer Glaswerke and taught design at Berlin Hochshule für Bildende Künste. He designed an unusual 1938 Zigzag Pelican ink bottle which is still in production. He established his own workshop in 1954 in Stuttgart and was co-founder of the New Werkbund in 1947 and of the journal Form in 1957.