Bernard-Albin Gras

Lampe Gras N°411 - New York, 1970s

Georges Braque & la Lampe Gras N°201

Henri Matisse & la Lampe Gras 201

Le Corbusier and the Lampe Gras 201

in his offices on rue de Sèvres in Paris

Gras Lamp, early 20th century

Gras Lamp, early 21st century

Gras lamps

As several designs that marked their time, the Gras Lamp is the fruit of the technical ingenuity of a french engineer, Bernard-Albin Gras, who created a wide collection of workshop lamps in 1921.

They are made with a particularly ingenious articulation system, without screws or welding, which made it particularly reliable and practical. Gifted with an aesthetic sense, Bernard-Albin Gras was able to highlight his invention by clean functional lines, which seduced many designers such as Le Corbusier, Robert Mallet-Stevens, Jacques Ruhlmann, Eileen Gray, Sonia Delaunay, or Georges Braque.

Thus the Gras Lamp soon found itself brought to the level of design object, present in the four corners of the world, whether it be in private interiors, workshops painter or architecture studios. The Gras Lamp – having become hard to find, and favoured by collectors in Europe, the US and Japan – has been carefully republished since 2008 by the french brand DCW editions, owners of the exclusive rights inherited from Bernard-Albin Gras.

In 1921 Bernard-Albin GRAS designed a series of lamps for use in offices and in industrial environments. The GRAS lamp, as it was subsequently called, was astounding in its simple, robust and yet very ergonomic design. There are neither screws nor welded joints in the basic form. In 1927 the Ravel company purchased the patent and started production of the GRAS lamps.

Bernard-Albin Gras was one of the most innovative designer of the 20th century. The functional esthetic of his lamps and especially the design of details such as those of the arms, stems, brackets and bases were truly original and far ahead of his time. Early on Le Corbusier was seduced by the modern design and user-friendliness of the lamps and became one of Bernard-Albin GRAS’s most enthusiastic supporters using the lamps in his own offices as well as employing them in numerous architectural projects all over the world.

Others such as Robert Mallet-Stevens, Jacques Emile Ruhlmann and Eileen Gray followed this trend as well. Furthermore, such well-known artists as Sonia Delaunay and Georges Braque also used these lamps in their studios. For the first time in history, a lamp was equally popular in professional as well as in residential applications. Bernard-Albin Gras’ talented and visionary design has proven to be timeless.