Monday, February 8, 2016

Let there be light.



This lamp, in our home office has been a part of my life for nearly forty years. It is a Dazor swing arm drafting lamp. I bought it in the early 80's when I was working as an architecture intern at a Tulsa office. I also bought a Mayline four post metal drafting table. I got both of them second hand. I finally retired the drafting table a couple of years ago and it is currently in storage. I seriously doubt if I will ever use it again. This drafting lamp is about to become a work light in the garage because I have found a replacement.
This Dazor model  1000 desk lamp uses the same fluorescent tubes as the drafting lamp and to be honest it's probably older than the drafting lamp that it replaces. It is simply a more suitable scale for the desk. The desk lamp was manufactured sometime between the mid 1940's to the mid 1960's. The drafting lamp was probably a product of the mid 1950's though the mid 1970's. By today's standards, both are considered vintage mid-century industrial design.
In the mid 60's every architect and engineering office in the country had these drafting lamps in their production rooms. Any office that had a drafting department was filled with these fixtures. The desk lamp is more of a product of government offices. Whether local, state, or federal, you would find the iconic metal desk, chair and this lamp. They are great.
I have a few other tools of the architect/engineer professions that many of today's practictioners would either not recognize or would be considered tools of the stone age. That's okay. I'm a bit of a dinosaur myself. Have  you got any tools from your past that you still use?

3 comments:

  1. If it's not broken then don't try fixing whatever it is. If it works then enjoy. I'm with you on this.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had an old ugly drafting lamp for years but it didn't fit the decor. I don't work at a desk at home any longer since I have a laptop.

    I still have my old metal slide rule and I sure don't use it. I have old pipeline road crossing signs from previous employers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ALL tools I use are old. Shoot, the newest thing I use with any regularity is this computer, and its going on 17.

    ReplyDelete