ateljé Lyktan 90 years – Edition Bukowskis

Hans Bergström was born on 4 November 1910 in Karlshamn, Blekinge, as the only child in a strictly religious family. His technical talent and a predicted future as an engineer were transformed when he, inspired by a close relative who was an artist, found his calling in lighting design. After studying at the School of Arts and Crafts in Stockholm and spending some time in Helsingborg, Hans and his wife Verna founded ateljé Lyktan in 1934. The business later moved to Åhus in 1938, where it remains active today.

When Hans Bergström began working with lighting in the 1930s, Swedish lighting design was somewhat behind the times in terms of form. He saw it as his mission to change this and believed that light should not be concealed behind heavy shades. His philosophy was simple: "The light should be white and shine freely." This philosophy led him to create lamps that both allowed light to shine through and were aesthetically pleasing.

At a time when lighting fixtures were often bulky and muted, Bergström revolutionised the design. He was soon commissioned for public spaces such as churches and castles, but it was during the plastic revolution of the 1950s that his name began to spread internationally. His fixtures, which combined functionality with sleek design, became symbols of innovative design.

Through the new collaboration with Bukowskis, we now have the chance to relive some of Bergström's greatest works in a modern iteration.

Model 311

An uplight for indirect light, or downward-facing direct light. Early on, Bergström worked with indirect light at different levels, which created a pleasant lighting environment where a bright ceiling reflects and allows the room to be illuminated in soft light. Bergström's vision was to have multiple light sources in the room, with light fixtures at varying levels. The Model 311 consists of a shade made from spun sheet metal, with a rod in polished, hand-polished brass between the mounting unit and the shade.

Model 58

A fixture model in its various phases that tells the story of a groundbreaking era. When the pendant lamp first illuminated the room in the mid-1940s, it was covered with stretched fabric over a steel frame. However, with Hans Bergström's revolutionary method of plastic injection in the early 1950s, the same model would return, but in the new material. ateljé Lyktan has chosen to produce both the 1940s version with fabric as well as the one with a plastic injection shade. Both versions feature suspension loops in brass between the shade and ceiling cup.