Wright Chat

I picked up another Taliesin lamp at a sale. Each of these piece has it's own quirks. It looks old, but there were many variations. This one had the shade held in place with staples more than glue. Has anyone seen this detail before?

"Authentic" would only mean "made at Taliesin." By whom is always a mystery. Definitely not by Himself.

There's no label on it, so I don't believe it is a modern era reproduction. My understanding is these were made by apprentices for a give project, or were included in the plans for a project and left up to a local craftsperson. That would qualify as "authentic." Maybe someone in Wright land that was made in the same manner, possibly by the same person.

Geiger told me that many apprentices made the lamps for their own rooms. They are so simple they could be run off a conveyor belt by the dozens per day. Authentic or not, just enjoy their beauty for what they are.

"Authentic" would mean made at Taleisin, surely.

"They are so simple they could be run off a conveyor belt by the dozens per day." I'm sorry, but that just won't fly. There is nothing simple about this object, nor the making thereof. Have you made one ? Yes, making multiples is the logical way to make a complex object, like a chair, because the time is in the set-ups for each operation. I do wonder if that occurred at Taliesin, at any period. Has anyone come across discussion or a record of these lamps as made by apprentices or others ? Did Mr Wright ever contemplate commercial production of the Taliesin Lamp ?

I am thinking that the wire suspension of the shade, as in this example, may have been the earliest solution to that part of the lamp. It could thus be an important clue to the age of a lamp with no other provenance ? The stapling of the shade material is a crude but effective fastening method which I haven't seen before. It could have been done with finer staples, aligned with the direction of the spar. Perhaps what we're seeing is rusted staples, making them appear larger ?

S

Looks about as faithful to the "originals" that I have seen. Nearly identical construction to the Bob Beharka versions that I have. Looks like it has some age to it. That's about as nice as it gets.

Thanks, Kevin---it's good to have that input. Someday someone might make as study of this design, tracking down as many of the early or original lamps including those made by apprentices while at Taliesin or after leaving it ? Does Bob's lamp have the same or similar wire-and-screw-eye suspension of the subject lamp ?

In the future (or right now, for that matter) it will be easy to distinguish a Taliesin-made lamp from one made by Cassina or Yamagiwa, if only by the way the socket and shade are connected to the frame. I believe there will be far fewer variations to be found than are present among the multitude of Origami chairs out there . . .!

Looking to verify the spelling of Yamagiwa, I came upon this short thread. There may be others

viewtopic.php?t=11379

S

Another lamp I had used the screw eyes on the lamp, but rather than two strips of bent wire, the lamp had four piece of wire, each with a copper head. These nail-like piece went through the wood cross piece and were then bent at the far end to fit into the screw eye. It was an outlier as most photos I've seen have just two piece of wire. The oddity with this lamp are the staples the paper shade. Others I've seen were simply glued.