Incollect Magazine - Issue 13

Incollect Magazine 87 “During the 1950s, ASEA was not only an industrial powerhouse in Sweden but a major commissioner of modern domestic lighting, collaborating with designers who understood how to bring softness and elegance into functional objects,” says Jelmar Hufen, owner of H Gallery in Utrecht. “Through these collaborations, the company has had a huge impact on the design history, especially in the area of lighting.” Hufen points to the way ASEA combined innovative design with their technical and production prowess, a quality that can be observed in pieces such as a set of unique and inventive (and extremely rare) table lamps by the Danish lighting designer Svend Aage Holm-Sørensen, model E1296, from the 1950s, characterised by a creative yet functional use of materials “featuring a cone-shaped base crafted from solid wood and a highly distinctive, artistically formed opaline glass shade secured by a brass cylinder.” Overall, Hufen says, “the impression of the design is at the same time futuristic and quintessentially mid-century modern.” Svend Aage Holm-Sørensen — ASEA Left: Pair of Svend Aage Holm-Sørensen "E1296" Table Lamps for ASEA, Sweden, 1950s. Courtesy H Gallery. Right: Model "EA1288" Brass and Wood Table Lamp for ASEA, Sweden ca. 1940s. Courtesy H Gallery.