For some of us, family inheritances tend to be burdensome, taking up space, emotionally and physically, in both our minds and attics. For the London-based designer and architect Joe Armitage, however, a family heirloom has taken him somewhere lighter and brighter, across generations and continents, and into the path of Le Corbusier. This is the story of a lamp designed by Edward Armitage in India 72 years ago, which has today been expanded into a collection of lights by his grandson Joe.
The story behind Joe Armitage's ‘Noveconi’ chandelier
‘My great-grandfather, Joseph Armitage, was a stone carver from Yorkshire, who worked in London from 1910 onwards,’ explains Armitage. He made decorative stonework for buildings like the Bank of England and Windsor Castle, and also for Lutyens’ parliament buildings in New Delhi. This was the start of the Armitage family bond with India, which would strengthen significantly in the next generation.
Following India’s partition in 1947, the Indian government decided to build a new city, Chandigarh, as the Punjabi capital. Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret were commissioned to design a city for the future, and they asked British architects Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew to help them with some of the housing and administrative buildings. ‘One day, Fry broke his wrist and was transferred to the nearest hospital, in Ludhiana, where he was asked if he could also design a new hospital for them,’ says Armitage. ‘Fry replied that he didn’t have the capabilities, but he knew someone who could. He called my grandfather, Edward, who was in his twenties at the time. His 21-year-old wife, Marthe, had just given birth to my father, but they moved to India and took on the project. My grandmother is still alive and talks fondly about those two incredible years in India.’
Edward designed furniture that included chairs, tables, a desk, a music stand, and a bedside table because, as part of the hospital complex, he was also responsible for designing the guesthouses and houses for the doctors. This is where the lamp originated. ‘Resources were scarce, so the ring at the back of the lamp was an old paint tin, attached to four motorbike spokes, and the shade was just paper, sewn to the ring,’ explains Armitage.
Armitage wonders if the couple’s sea voyage from London to Mumbai may have subliminally influenced the design of the cone, which looks like a windsock or a sail, he says, pointing at an old photograph taken from the steamship. Black and white photographs document the Armitages’ lives during their time in India, but there were no technical sketches of the lamp. To recreate it, Armitage began with the original and carefully followed anthropological clues and cues. The arching rosewood stem is anchored in a V-shaped base, echoing the legs of Pierre Jeanneret’s ‘Chandigarh’ chair from the same wave of post-war modernism in India.
Armitage never met his grandfather, but it is thanks to his 94-year-old grandmother, Marthe – a globally renowned wallpaper designer and hand-block printer – that the story continues. ‘The original lamp is still in her living room. She once hosted a large group of press and buyers for tea. Someone saw the lamp and asked about it. The next day, she said to me, “I have 20 orders for that old lamp. Could you make them?” And that’s how I got into lamps,’ he laughs. Today, the ‘Armitage’ lamp collection includes floor, desk, wall, accent and suspension lamps, all sharing the signature conical shade of their forebear.
‘The original one was in paper, but I developed a kind of recycled PET from water bottles that looks like Japanese washi paper,’ says Armitage. ‘It is translucent and durable and gives a soft, warm glow.’ He also redesigned the ring in solid brass and installed a modern dimmable LED bulb. His grandfather’s version was made from rosewood, which is now endangered, so Armitage’s reissues are made from walnut.
The most recent addition to the family of lights is the ‘Noveconi’ chandelier, designed by Armitage for Nilufar Gallery together with a wall sconce and ceiling lamp. Nilufar will show them in Mumbai later this year during the Milanese gallery’s inaugural exhibition in the country. ‘The show is a mix of vintage works by the great masters of design and contemporary pieces,’ says Nilufar Gallery founder Nina Yashar. In addition to Joe Armitage’s lamps, the exhibition will feature pieces from Khaled El Mays, David/Nicolas and many more. It is a favourable moment for art and design in India, says Yashar: ‘I find that the Indian market is perfect for experimenting with these collections. This is the first time we are doing something in India, and I must say I am very proud of it. India is currently experiencing a golden moment for collectible design.’
Edward Armitage’s original floor lamp is also travelling back to India: Joe Armitage has donated the new version to the Ludhiana hospital, and for this story, we were granted access to Ahmedabad’s ATMA House, one of the finest existing examples of Le Corbusier’s domestic architecture in India, to photograph the pieces together before they disperse.
This article appears in the October 2024 issue of Wallpaper*, available in print on newsstands, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today.
