Schlagheck Schultes for OSRAM Magnetic Eyeball Wall Lamp AGILO W40 (1979)

Schlagheck Schultes’s AGILO W40 wall lamp for Osram won an iF design award in 1979 – and you can see why. Functionally it’s an eyeball lamp which anchors magnetically to its wall mount and aesthetically it’s a mix of simple shapes and minimalist lines wrapped up in an absolutely-no-frills package. It’s absolute understatement, but very vocal about how well engineered and how closely designed it has been. The box illustrates some possible uses of the lamp – for focusing light on a particular area, for reading, etc. – but it almost goes without saying that this lamp itself now is likely to be the centre of attention rather than what it is illuminating.

This one is almost flawless in terms of condition (the box and small manual aside), and seemingly never used for its intended purpose. The wall mount measures approximately 11.5cm (4½ in.) square with a depth of 2.5 cm (1 in.).  The “eyeball” is approximately 10cm (4 in.) in diameter with a bulb opening of 5cm (2 in.). The bulb holder is a small screw type (E14) with a maximum wattage of 40W recommended. Installation is easy and instructions provided. You may even be tempted to use this as a desk or table light… which is what we have had in mind for it ourselves!

Serious offers are welcomed for this highly unusual and uncommon item.