In this listing we are very pleased to offer a pair of the legendary Krekel (meaning Cricket) lamp by Raak Amsterdam.
They are sold as a pair and the price is for the two together.
According to the Raak catalogues of the time the design was by Mr Otto Wasch.
Apart from his name, the fact that he was born in the Dutch colony Indonesia in 1912 where his parents were living at the time and passed away in Amsterdam in 1989 not much else is known about Otto Wasch. According to the Raak catalogues he was an interior designer but no work of him is known in that field. Raak was known to be very open to new designers and fresh ideas and perhaps another designer or an employee introduced Mr Wasch to Raak and the management of Raak must have liked his idea for the Krekel lamp and gave him the commission.
And rightly so. The Krekel is a lamp like no other existed at the time. It is sober, yet creative with a touch on ingenuity. It is entirely made of polished aluminium (that Raak poetically called "white lightweight metal") with a sober cylindric body that hides the bulb holder on a metal frame and two equally long aluminium pins or sticks that are "pierced" through the cylinder through pre drilled cut outs in both the cylinder and frame on the inside.
These pins can be playfully adjusted in height, allowing you to put the lamp in different height positions.
The lamp was designed for and advertised to be used with mirror head and reflector bulbs but they can be used with any tube of bulb. Of course having a silver mirror head does do in nicely with the aluminium body and pins.
As the name Krekel implies the design was supposed to represent a cricket with the pins as legs and the bulb as head of the insect, very much in the same way as the legendary praying mantis lamp by Parisian Rispal was supposed to represent the insect with the same name.
The Krekel was a great succes for Raak and was in production for several years. It has become one of those emblematic Raak lamps like the Globe and Fuga lamps.
From an economical perspective it was probably also an attractive model for the company as producing "a tube and two pins" in the then popular material of aluminium must not have cost that much.
The design of the Krekel dates from the second half of the 1960s and can be seen for example in the Raak catalogue number 8 of 1968.
One of the two on offer here still has a leftover of the Raak sticker label next to the bulb holder. The other no longer has any markings.
Both are sold with a brand new mirror head LED bulb by SPL. The SPL LED bulbs are considered to be the best on the market and light up beautifully.
On a side note: Raak advertised that these lamps could be used with light bulbs up to 100 Watts. As the bulb has no protection whatsoever around it, at the time it meant this lamp would need to be kept away from children or anything that could melt or deform from the heat generated by a 100 Watts light bulb. In the safety world of today a lamp design like this would probably not be approved.
However with modern day LED bulbs as we include with these lamps, this heat is no longer an issue as especially the glass tops of LED bulbs produce virtually no heat at all and can even be touched by little children.
One of the two lamps is in near fully original condition: it still has the original porcelain bulb holder and wiring. The only thing that was changed on this lamp is the plug.
The other needed to be rewired by us and also the porcelain bulb holder needed to be replaced.
In daily use the difference in bulb holder cannot be seen but the difference in wiring is visible if you put these lamps close to each other.
The lamps take 1 E27 light bulb with screw type fitting each.
The lamp cords are 269 (new cord) and 278 centimeters / 105.91 (new cord) and 109.45 inches for both lamps and both lamps have new flat 2-pin European plugs.
The lamps were designed for a 220/230 volts network but with adjustments can of course be used anywhere in the world.
About Raak Amsterdam
Raak very much came to fame in the late 1960s as a revolutionary lighting design company that somehow perfectly caught the sign of the times in its designs. Their numbered catalogues were famous for their poetic approach, detailed explanations of which light could be put to use where and the creative naming of many of their models.
It was very fitting and well deserved that they called their work "Lighting Architecture" rather than just lamps.
The company was founded by a former Philips lighting employee Carel Lockhorm in 1954 and he remained director until 1977.
They had a large shop/showroom at the Prinsengracht 777 in Amsterdam. Raak worked with many designers inclusive of Frank Ligtelijn, Nanny Still-Mckinney, Nan Platvoet, Nico Kooy, Tapio Wirkkala, Jan Jaspers Fayer, Ger Vos, Ru Melchers, Maija Liisa Komulainen and Li Helo. Raak lamps always have a very good to excellent quality and noble materials.
The metal lamps and metal parts were all made at the FAK-metaalwarenfabriek in Kortenhoef that as an act of backward integration, Raak took over fully in 1965. Most glass used in the lamps was blown at German Peill & Putzler but Raak also sourced from other European glass manufacturers such as Bega and Val Saint Lambert.
As of 1977 the ownership of Raak changed a few times and in 1980 it merged with BIS Lighting and the name Raak Amsterdam disappeared and was replaced by BISraak. After more ownership changes, changes of location and mergers the last parent company was declared bankrupt in 2011 putting a permanent end to the history of this legendary lighting company.
Measurements:
Height in standard position with bulb: about 19.5 cm / 7.68 inches
Length of the cylinder with bulb: about 23 cm / 9.05 inches
Width (pin to pin): 27 cm / 10.63 inches
Weight: 484 grams (old cord) & 490 grams ( new cord).
Condition:
Very good to excellent condition.
Both Raak Krekel lamps on offer here are in a very attractive condition.
They come from the same home so they have aged together in the same way.
The only noticeable difference between the two is the wiring.
The cylindric bodies are still nicely glossy (brushed aluminium). Both have incidental needle to pen point size scuffs or short scratches but some of these might even date from production.
In daily use none of them will stand out.
There are no dents, rim deformations or stains.
The pins are in excellent condition. They can still be adjusted in height by pushing them gently yet with a bit of force through the body. Please note that around the pre drilled holes on the frame on the inside of the lamp there are plastic rings around these holes that act as both a break and a grip for the sticks. It is key essential for any Krekel lamp that the frame on the inside still has the rings in undamaged condition. Without them the sticks will no longer hold as they should and replacing them is impossible as no such rings are made anymore.
Needless to say the rings on the two lamps on offer here are in great condition.
The porcelain bulb holder and wiring on the one where they are the originals have normal signs of age and use but are undamaged and perfectly safe to use. The wiring has naturally changed color to cream white.
As stated for the other lamp the bulb holder and wiring (and the plugs for both) are new replacements.
Please refer to the pictures to get the best impression.
We have many more pictures available of this item. Do not hesitate to ask for them in case of doubt.
