Torres Clavé, an architect who was taken from us too early in the Spanish Civil War, founded GATCPAC, a group that sought to foster rationalist architecture in Catalonia and thus sympathized with the German Bauhaus and the modern movement. Along with his colleagues Sert, Subirana and others he designed a lamp that they offered as a gift in the buildings they erected, occasionally customizing one detail or another as if laying down their collective signature. This is the GATCPAC lamp that Santa & Cole are re-editing according to Torres Clavé’s plans, thought to be the first and the original lamp of the many variations the group produced.

It has a metal base and a tall shaft with a broad cross-section like an unsheathed column. At the top, a joint that can be adjusted by hand grips a dome-shaped shade that can be directed upwards (for indirect light) or to one side or the other (for direct light). This feature transforms it into a household light – a machine à illuminer – with a strict purpose, far from Greek or Roman historicist evocations. A flawlessly modern piece.

The GATCPAC lamp is part of the Design Classics collection, a series of objects created at different times of modernism with the twofold aim of strengthening historical memory – which is sometimes endangered – and putting forward critical discussion on creation in industrial design beyond mere trends.

Features

• Designed in 1931
• Dimmer included
• UL Listed
• Dry Rated: Suitable for indoor use