Workspace

BL1 Table Lamp

Robert Dudley Best, 1930

OVERVIEW

The Bestlite design company has a long history of prestige thanks to the partnership of industrial designer Robert Dudley Best and his family’s manufacturing firm—Best & Lloyd, founded in 1840. Best began his studies of industrial design in Paris and Düsseldorf, where he became close friends with Walter Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus movement. It was during this time that he drafted the first model of a Bauhaus-inspired lamp that was still foreign to the UK. After a mention in Architects’ Journal, the lamp’s popularity grew. Once Winston Churchill placed a Bestlite lamp on his desk in Whitehall, the company gained everlasting fame.

Bestlite is held in permanent collections at both the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Design Museum in London. Loved by architects, designers, and design aficionados throughout its 80-year history, Bestlite stays close to its industrial roots and original design, and enjoys global iconic status in present day.