Lisa Johansson-Pape Pair of Table Lamp Model “Senator”, Finland, 1947

Measurements
41 cm diameter x 59 height cm
16.14 in diameter x 23.22 height in

Literature
Design Musuem, Lisa Johansson-Pape, Helsinki, 1986; Ornamo, Helsinki, 1962

Bio
Finnish designer Lisa Johansson-Pape enjoyed a long and varied career in lighting, furniture, textile, and ceramic design. She was one of Finland’s leading lighting designers in the 20th century and was instrumental in promoting Finnish design internationally.
Born in 1907, Lisa Johansson-Pape studied at the Industrial Art Institute in Helsinki University of Art & Design (Now Aalto University of Art & Design), graduating in 1928. She worked as a furniture designer for Kylmäkoski and Stockmann and created carpets for the Friends of Finnish Handicraft, before turning her attention to lighting design. She collaborating with the Stockmann-owned lighting factory Orno from 1942, famously remarking, “it was quite by accident that I became a design light artist. By education, I am a furniture designer, but I had to make lamps during the war.”
Notable designs include the Lisa (1947), Sipuli (1954), and Laura (1957) pendant lamps. The Sipuli, often referred to by the English translation Onion, resembles the form of the vegetable for which it was named. The angular design in opaline glass was awarded a gold medal at the Triennale di Milano in 1954, which was just one of several prizes Johansson-Pape received in her career; she was also awarded a silver medal at the 1951 Triennale di Milano and the Pro-Finlandia prize in 1957. In the 1950s she developed an interest in ceramics and glass, collaborating with historic Finnish glass factory Iittala.