Diabolo table lamp by Cosack, 1950s

Table or desk lamp, Diabolo model, Cosack edition, 1950s.

• New rewiring carried out by our restorer.
• The cream-coloured textured metal reflector is adjustable thanks to a brass ball joint.
• Very good overall condition, with a few signs of normal wear.
• H 35 cm x reflector diameter 24 cm.

Diabolo desk lamp by Cosack – Germany, 1950s

This vintage table lamp is a so-called “Diabolo” model by Gebrüder Cosack, a German manufacturer established in Neheim-Hüsten, one of the major historical centers of the lighting industry in Germany. Produced in the 1950s, it combines a black cast-iron tripod base, a long curved metal arm, and a white lacquered aluminum reflector. This black tripod base adopts the “crow’s foot” form, also found on several Cosack desk lamps from the same period. This highly graphic base constitutes one of the most characteristic elements of the German manufacturer’s modernist production.

The Cosack Diabolo lamp, a true modernist stroke of the pen.

Likely a lamp by Karl-Heinz Kinsky

The shape of this table lamp’s reflector closely resembles that of the wall lamp no. 9591 by Karl-Heinz Kinsky, in wrinkle finish lacquer and brass, produced by Cosack in 1959. A photograph of this model is held in the Historical Photographic Archives of the German Design Council under inventory number SDDM_HF_0.005.163.002. This similarity suggests a possible attribution of our table lamp to the same designer.

A Cosack lamp fully rewired

We fully dismantled this lamp in our restoration workshop. The light was taken apart to check each component, then completely rewired before reassembly. The photograph taken during the work also shows the model’s particularly simple, ingenious construction: base, arm, reflector, and electrical components are all independent.

The Diabolo lamp fully dismantled by our restorer in preparation for its new wiring.

These lamps are still very often attributed to Louis Kalff for Philips, probably because of their formal kinship with certain lights he developed for Philips. However, this attribution is supported by no known documentation: models in this family are associated with Cosack, while no link between Kalff and the German manufacturer is currently documented.

With its compact format and highly graphic lines, this small modernist lamp sits naturally on a coffee table, a desk or a sideboard, where its design retains a real presence even when switched off.