Mantis BS4 L Ceiling Light

Ceiling lamp in steel and aluminium. Movement is the source of inspiration for all Bernard Schottlander's work: artist, engineer-handyman, he has perfected a clever pivot-counterweight system, using flexible and resistant metal rods. His lights, inspired by the work of Alexandre Calder and playing on the tension between balance and imbalance, like mobiles, seem to defy the laws of gravity. The poetry of the object invites one to dream: elegance on a thread...
Bernard Schottlander was born in Mainz, Germany in 1924 and moved to England in 1939. After serving with the British Army in India, he learnt to weld and took a course in Sculpture at Leeds College of Art and subsequently – with the help of a bursary – at the Anglo-French Art Centre in St John’s Wood.Bernard Schottlander described himself as a designer for interiors and a sculptor for exteriors. After several successful years as an industrial designer, Bernard Schottlander chose to concentrate on sculpture. In the late 1950s he established a workshop in North London where he was ably assisted for many years by George Nash.From 1965 he taught metalwork at St Martins School of Art. In the same year he was part of the group show Six Artists at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and in the following year (1966) had his first solo show at the Hamilton Galleries, London.