Wall lamp

This wall lamp was designed by Willy Van der Meeren, one of the most important Belgian furniture designers of the post-war period. Acquired by the Marie-Jeanne Dauchy Fund, this iconic piece joined the permanent collection of Belgian design and its history at the Design Museum in Brussels.

One of Willy Van der Meeren’s most important pieces

Made in collaboration with Jean Stuyvaert (1924 – 1999), this wall lamp is a major and iconic piece of Willy Van der Meeren (1923 – 2002). Made from metal tubes, lacquered sheet metal and brass, it was produced in 1953 by Tubax and was clearly intended for industrial production. However, very few examples were actually produced, hence its rarity. Here, the formal vocabulary of post-World War II functionalism is pushed to its extreme but with elegance and a lightness of touch. This lamp, which is in remarkable condition, exhibits an audacious experimental approach, but one whose clean lines are above all sober and practical.

The democratisation of design

Van der Meeren favoured democratic, functional and non-formal design. This philosophy was expressed in the furniture he designed, but also in the coherence between architecture and interiors. His famous modular office chairs and desks exhibiting visible tubing that were typical of a certain ‘non-academism’ of the 1950s have similar lines to this wall lamp, whose efficiency of logic is far-removed from any formalist concerns.

A notable artistic and architectural figure

Willy Van der Meeren graduated in 1948 from La Cambre, where he was taught by the famous Belgian architect, Louis Herman De Koninck. Heavily influenced by the trend for functionalism, and following in the footsteps of his mentor Gaston Eysselinck, Van der Meeren became one of the Belgian architects who made their mark on post-war design. This was a period when the need for new low-cost housing was making itself felt, which influenced his designs for architectural projects and furniture. Typical of Van der Meeren's designs is his focus on mass production and his social conscience.

Architect Willy Van der Meeren thus designed social housing where light, functionality and the importance of community living took precedence over luxury and waste. In 1962, he completed the project to build social housing for the organisation « Ieder Zijn Huis » (To Each His Own House), alongside the CECA house, a prototype of working-class home made from pre-fabricated materials. The furniture he designed for it matched the architectural style of the houses., As a designer, Van der Meeren was one of the ‘modern social furniture’ designers and one of the participants much commented on at the Salons Nationaux du Meuble Moderne, where in 1957 he exhibited his famous C1 chair at the Tubax stand. Today, Willy Van der Meeren is considered as one of the most important Belgian furniture designers of the post-war period and indeed some of his designs are still in production today.

Entrusted to the Brussels Design Museum

This graphic wall lamp, so adored by amateurs of post-war design, joined the permanent collection of the Brussels Design Museum, that illustrates the history of design in Belgium. The lamp is exhibited alongside other remarkable pieces acquired by the Marie-Jeanne Dauchy Fund, which is dedicated to the safeguarding, conservation, protection, restoration and promotion of Brussels cultural heritage.