Beige Desk Light by Christian Dell for Kaiser Idell, 1930s

Industrial designer, silversmith, and teacher Christian Dell was born in 1893 in Offenbach, Germany. While information on Dell is limited, multiple sources note he apprenticed as a silversmith in Hanau prior to studying at the Weimar School of Applied Art. Between 1922 and 1925, Dell served as master of the metal workshop at the Bauhaus in Weimar; he is credited with playing a formative role in shaping the Bauhaus’s metalworking curriculum. During this time, he also designed crafted tableware in copper and silver.

In 1926, after the Weimar Bauhaus closed, Dell was appointed director of the then-new metalwork course at the Frankfurt School of Art, where he remained until 1933—at which time the Nazis dismissed him. While in Frankfurt, in addition to teaching and working as a silversmith, Dell began his career as a lighting designer. Standout designs from this period include the Rondella (1927-28) and Polo Populär (1929) desk lights; both were initially manufactured by the Rondella factory at Oberursel and later by Bünte & Remmler in Frankfurt. Other noteworthy pieces include the Dell-lamp type K (1930) as well as the Kaiser idell range (1930s), the latter of which appeared for the first time in catalogue in 1936 and was produced by the company Gebr. Kaiser & Co in Neheim-Hüsten. (Notably, many of Dell’s lighting designs incorporated his own name into their titles.)

After World War II, Dell manufactured silver goods and opened a jeweler’s shop in Wiesbaden, which operated from 1948 to 1955. He died in Wiesbaden in 1974.

The most famous work of Bauhaus designer Christian Dell, the Kaiser Idell lighting range is a classic of 20th-century design and an enduring symbol of the Bauhaus legacy.

Kaiser Idell lamps, designed by Dell (1893-1974) throughout the 1930s, were produced by Gebr. Kaiser & Co in Neheim-Hüsten, Germany. The range includes floor lamps, articulated “scissor” wall lamps, and desk lamps, often featuring lacquered metal structures in black or bold, primary colors. The collection was first promoted in Kaiser Leuchten’s 1936 catalogue, but models were put into production as early as 1933-4. For the remainder of the 1930s and until the outbreak of the Second World War, up to 700 copies were produced annually. Early edition lamps in the collection were imprinted with “Original JDell,” and later versions manufactured in the mid- to late-1930s were marked “Original Kaiser Idell” with the logo forming a circle around the head of the lamp.

The history of the Kaiser Leuchten factory took a darker turn during the war, when the factory was destroyed, and many laborers who were forcibly employed there were killed in 1943. After the war, the factory was rebuilt and lamps were put into production once more and remained so until the late 1970s when the company was acquired by the Thorn Lighting Group.

Today, vintage Kaiser Idell lamps remain highly sought-after on the secondary market.