This is the story of the world’s Largest desk lamp.
The Anglepoise desk lamp is an icon of design and engineering. Created by George Carwadine in 1931 as a result of his work on vehicle suspension systems, it has lit the work of engineers, world leaders and a very obscure animation.
I have had a fascination with this lamp since childhood. The one we used as a model is my dad’s. He’s had it since he can remember.
We decided to make the lamp 784% larger than the original. This meant the main struts were 50mm and 60mm box respectively and the final piece would stand over 6m tall.
Fabricating the lamp shade proved to be a huge challenge. In order to save weight I chose to use 0.8mm steel sheet. Battling the floppiness was interesting. Welding the sheet was far beyond my capabilities. An old Anglo Saxon proverb comes to mind: “A grinder and paint will make me the welder ain’t”
As the project went on, the scale began to dawn on us…
