The story behind the Anglepoise lamp

The Anglepoise is a perfect blend of beauty and substance. No wonder it’s loved for both its functionality and looks

Most of us know someone who likes to ‘tinker’. Possibly with electrical parts, car engines or tools, spending hours in a garage or shed – and we may think they’re doing not very much. But out of one such workshop, over 80 years ago, design classic the Anglepoise lamp was born. From these humble beginnings it’s gone on to be one of the most recognisable and popular pieces of homeware design, and is part of the Design Museum’s permanent collection.

George Carwardine was a British automotive engineer who owned a factory developing vehicle suspension systems. The factory proved to be an incubator for creativity, and Carwardine liked to tinker and experiment with the vast array of industrial bric- a-brac at his fingertips, especially the springs. It was while pottering like this that he designed a new type of spring with ‘constant tension’ that could be moved in every direction, yet remain rigid when held in position – rather like an arm.

This was his (ahem) light-bulb moment. He patented his unique spring design in 1932, then applied it to a lamp, licensing the product to Herbert Terry & Sons, who already supplied springs to his factory. Originally, he named the now iconic lamp the Equipoise, but this was rejected by the Trade Marks Registry, so he decided upon Anglepoise.

He produced the first one, the 1208, in 1934 as an industrial task lamp, but it became so popular that he ‘tinkered’ once again to create the 1227, which had three springs instead of four and an art deco-inspired base, more suited to domestic use.

Three years later, Carwardine played with the design a little further, creating a wider shade, two-tier base and enabling the lamp to take a 40-watt bulb. This became the archetypal Anglepoise that we know today, and remained in production for over 30 years.

Since then, the lamp has undergone numerous incarnations – and been relentlessly copied. In 2003 Sir Kenneth Grange – who designed the Kenwood Mixer, Kodak Instamatic and Intercity 125 train – took the helm as design director of Anglepoise and his first design, the Type 3, was an update of the 1227 and could take a 100-watt bulb, making the Anglepoise not just a task lamp (no self-respecting student was without one) but a covetable interiors piece.

So you never know, maybe next time the tinkerer in your life disappears for hours, they may be hard at work on the next iconic design.

Anglepoise: Fun facts

• Anglepoise navigator’s lamps were used in World War II Lancaster bombers. Forty years later a team searching for the Loch Ness Monster salvaged a bomber in the muddy loch, and the lamp still worked. The plane, plus working lamp, is exhibited at The Brooklands Museum in Surrey
• Sculptor David Mack created his installation The Giant Hand Sculpture Named Knuckle Shuffle from 360 black Anglepoises
• The Roald Dahl Museum asked Anglepoise to produce a giant version of the 1227 that Dahl had on his desk in his famous writing hut. Three prototypes were created: one for the museum, another sold to director Tim Burton and the third shown at the 100% Design exhibition. It proved so popular that it was put into production
• In 2009 the Anglepoise celebrated its 75^th anniversary, and to mark the occasion it was featured on a Royal Mail stamp