Vintage Copper 'Glow Lamp' by Ruth Gerth, 1930's

Designed by Ruth Gerth (American, 1897-1952). Part of the Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian Design Museum’s permanent collection.

Ruth Gerth’s 1931 “Glow Lamp” for Chase Brass and Copper Company is a gleaming example of American modernism with a bit of a dirty secret. Although this design boasts a bright shine and clean, modern aesthetic, Gerth actually adapted the lamp’s base from a copper toilet float.

Gerth grew up in Illinois and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. From the age of 17, she had a passion for industrial design and she ultimately became the first woman president of the Artists Guild, an organization devoted to the rights of freelance artists. Her most prominent client was the Chase Brass and Copper Company, based in Waterbury, Connecticut. She became an important part of the company’s identity, planning its offices, gift shop, and showroom displays for its Manhattan office at Chase Tower, now the Mercantile Building. Until the 1930s, Chase primarily produced copper and brass fittings for industrial clients; it entered the consumer market with designs by a number of modernist designers such as Russel Wright, Rockwell Kent, and Walter von Nessen. Along with these luminaries, Gerth helped situate Chase as one of the preeminent producers of American art deco metal objects, many of which were crafted from recycled plumping materials also produced by the firm.

Chase’s art deco designers can be considered early proponents of upcycling, a design trend that really emerged towards the end of the twentieth century to give existing objects new life by creatively repurposing them in new and often surprising ways, elevating their artistic merit.

This vintage piece has been rewired to current safety standards and shows minor wear and dents due to age.