Christian Dell

Christian Dell (1893-1974) was a German silversmith remembered today mainly for his pioneering work in the creation of lamps. From 1922 to 1925 he was responsible for the metallurgy laboratory of the Bauhaus school in Weimar where he had the opportunity to collaborate with László Moholy-Nagy, who was at the head of his department at the time. Among his students he had Wilhelm Wagenfeld, who shortly thereafter designed the most famous and iconic Bauhaus lamp, known today by the name of WG 24. In that period Dell still concentrated his silversmith activity mainly on cutlery and accessories for the table: his first lamp dates back to 1927-1928 and combines a spartan and industrial aesthetic with technical innovations destined to set a precedent, including a spherical joint that allows the lamp arm to rotate 360°. Working on the refinements of this initial idea, Dell will give life to over 500 lamp models over the following decade, of which the most famous remains the Idell series produced by the Kaiser brand and characterized by its softened and refined lines. Dell taught silversmithing from 1926 to 1933 at the Frankfurtr Kunstschule, from which he was later kicked out by the Nazi regime. After the war he instead ran a goldsmith and jewelery shop in Wiesbaden. His Kaiser Idell series, still very popular, is now part of the catalog of the Danish brand Fritz Hansen.