This floor lamp from the 1960s, which was produced by the company ÚLUV, is one of our favourite pieces of design. As they’re already quite hard to come by these days, it’s clear that in a few years they will be nearly impossible to find. That’s why we decided to renew their production with a run of ten exact replicas. However, we didn’t know what a difficult task that would be.
The end of Czech crafts?
In order to have somewhere to start, we borrowed an existing product from one of our customers and used it to draw up a design. We assumed it would be easy to find a woodturner, but in the end we had to make the wooden tripod ourselves directly in the Nanovo workshop. The glass shade was produced by the glassworks in northern Bohemia.
ÚLUV floor lamp, photo by Dita Havránková
Ten exact replicas of the iconic lamp
The floor lamp, which was made entirely in the Czech Republic, consists of two parts: a tripod made of cherry wood with a light socket built into the centre and an oval-shaped shade made of milk glass, which creates a pleasantly diffused light. The lamp, which is identical to the original in size and proportions, was christened by Zuzana Lednická and Aleš Najbrt from the Najbrt graphic design studio at Nanovo’s tenth birthday celebration.
The launch of our ÚLUV lamp at Nanovo’s 10th birthday celebration at Villa Winternitz, photo by Dita Havránková
The story of ÚLUV
This floor lamp was originally produced by ÚLUV (the Centre for Folk Art Production), which is a company that formed in 1948 through the merger of several different brands. Later that same year, after all large companies in the country were nationalised and all small workshops and businesses were liquidated, the company became a safety net for Czechoslovak craftsmen.
Thanks to ÚLUV, makers of textiles, furniture, ceramics, clothing, and home furnishings found an outlet for their designs in workshops all over the country. The company also expanded the network of Krásná Jizba shops throughout Czechoslovakia, and these became a hub of modern design for many years to come. You can learn more about ÚLUV and other companies that raised the level of design in this country in our article about Jan Vaňek, Jindřich Halabala, and their influence on the Czechoslovak household.
