A great admirer of Alexander Calder, in 1951 Bernard Schottlander created a series of lamps and luminaires called MANTIS. Playing on the tension between balance and imbalance, his luminaires, like mobiles, seem to defy the laws of gravity. The Mantis collection is now published by DCW éditions.
With its wiry silhouette naturally reminiscent of a weightless praying mantis, the Mantis floor lamp has been structurally modified and improved by DCW as envisaged by Schottlander in his day. The Mantis BS8 L floor lamp plays on tension in balance and imbalance, composed of a long steel rod topped by its black shade pivoting on a ball joint and resting on its round base. The DCW floor lamp changes its base, swapping its original rack-and-weights system for an ingenious squaring of the circle with suggestive graphics and voids.
A real sculpture that can be adjusted by means of a knob, the Mantis BS8 L floor lamp gains a wide wheel of modularity through its versatility of use.
Founded in 2008 by Philippe Cazer and Frédéric Winkler, the French company DCW Editions specializes in the design and reissue of lighting and furniture designs. Its goal is to give a second life to objects that have left their mark on the past. The objects reimagined by DCW Editions share key traits: they are well-designed, thoughtfully created, and expertly crafted. “C’est l’amour des objets qui nous a guidé dans l’aventure de DCW. Everyday objects, reliable in use, honest, well-designed, and well-made. Objects that we treat with care, and sometimes even with affection. It’s a way of living and seeing the world.”