Making Their Marque

Much like a good cheddar (because we don’t know enough about wine) there’s vintage and then there’s vintage…

Not much beats a giant chunk of mature – we can all appreciate ‘the tang’ but along comes a vintage game changer, something with provenance, heritage and quality that blows the others away and we’re converted!

It’s the same with lighting. Everyone loves a vintage light. No matter how big or small, ceramic or metal, wall or ceiling mounted, it will undoubtedly spark interest because a vintage light tells a story and they always look great. But there are some lights that give a little more – they carry the marque of excellence.

We’ve rounded up some of these vintage lighting brands and given a little history behind each one. We hope at the very least you find it an interesting read and maybe even find it helps you make a more ‘immersive’ choice when buying vintage lighting in the future.

REVO

Revo was founded in 1907 in Wolverhampton, UK. It was the combination of two previously established businesses, The Cable Accessories Company owned by Frederick Reeves and VONO owned by Septimus Vaughan.

They sold bell systems, radios, speakers, fans, traffic lights, street lights, fires and cookers, to name just a few but by the 1930s it was their street lighting that was commonplace, being installed in most towns and cities across the country.

Much like their bold but simple logo iterations over the years, REVO’s lights are some of the most iconic around with quality and durability ever present.  Although REVO went on to become a manufacturing giant, these rare pendant examples in our stock herald from the 1920s, the early days of production.

BENJAMIN

Benjamin originates from Chicago, USA and dates back to 1898. Just 10 years after forming they opened a branch in the UK, in Islington, north London. The company upscaled its domestic operation during the second world war to produce lighting for aeroplanes and airstrips and was a major London employer by the 1960s.

The company was founded by and built upon the nothing-short-of-remarkable skills of Reuben Berkley Benjamin.  Benjamin was an inventor, engineer, mathematician and businessman who had worked previously for the Commonwealth Edison Company and his influence in lighting was prolific. In fact so groundbreaking were his designs many electrical consumers, industrial and domestic, still use one or more of Mr. Benjamin’s inventions to this day.

Two fine examples of vintage Benjamin lights in Trainspotters stock are the Crysteel and the Reflector Crysteel pendant models found below.

THORLUX

Thorlux Lighting still exists today. Its luminaires have been manufactured continuously since 1936, the year Frederick William Thorpe founded the company in Birmingham, UK.

The company has always produced lighting and control systems for industry and yet their early lighting pieces are now so widely used in domestic and decorative settings, it is perhaps proof that design with true integrity is both desirable and timeless?

Click below to browse Trainspotters’ vintage Thorlux downlights.

NAPAKO

Napoko was founded in 1919 in Prague as a manufacturing co-operative. It was a ‘special-purpose association’ of small private companies who mainly produced metalwork. In the late 1940s the cooperative was partially nationalised and it went on to substantially extend its production facilities at its current address in Prague, although it no longer produces lighting.

Its most famous designer was Josef Hůrka who initially designed electric appliances for the company and later switched to design domestic lighting and lamps. So successful were some of his designs, NAPAKO were awarded various awards including the Golden Star at the 1958 world Expo in Brussels.

Currently in stock at Trainspotters are these exceptionally rare vintage Napoko pendants

AEI

In 1928 Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) was established out of the merger between two industrial behemoths, Metropolitan-Vickers and rival British Thomson-Houston (BTH). At that time the company produced a number of lights alongside many other electrical devices.

In 1957 AEI began introducing product-based businesses one of which was the AEI Lamp and Lighting Co. which went on to specifically produce lighting until the late 1960s when it then merged to become part of British Lighting Industries.

These Trainspotters AEIs were reclaimed from a power station in Wales and are in excellent condition with original foil stickers.

GEC

The General Electric Company or GEC started life in 1886 as The General Electric Apparatus Company in London which had an innovative business model of selling small electrical components over the counter at a time when electricity was a relatively new concept. Seeing the demand for electrical equipment rapidly increase, in 1893 it began manufacturing lamps and in 1900 it was officially incorporated as GEC.

From somewhat maverick beginnings, it went on to become a stalwart British powerhouse of manufacture and by the 1990s it employed several hundred thousand people across its numerous facilities.

The GECoRAY light was a specific model manufactured by GEC that included a silver/ mercury backed or ‘mirrored’ shade for reflecting strong directional light in shop windows and department store displays.

Click to View Trainspotters’ GEC Street Lanterns

Click to View Trainspotters’ GECoRAY Pendants

MEK-ELEK

The company was founded in Greater London in 1931 by H.C. Cooper as manufacturers of special lighting equipment. Cooper was a military man in his youth who post-war, went on to work for Merz and McLellan in India on heavy power supply and railway electrification schemes.

MEK-ELEK specialised in the manufacture of the Mek Elite or Mekelite – a light specifically designed for industry that could be wall, bench or machine mounted. Records show that this was also referred to as a ‘lathe light’ and was primarily bought by the aircraft industry. Mekelite lights became available in a wide range of types and sizes but all versions were based around a similar family of components.

Trainspotters has a rare Mek Elek in stock, click here to take a look…

VICTOR

Inn 1929 Charles Croften and Company (Engineers) Ltd was formed in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. There was no way of knowing that one day the company would achieve everlasting recognition for introducing new safety measures in the mining industry, through its lighting; and under the name Victor Products Ltd, that it would be the leader in lighting, drilling and cabling worldwide.

As Victor, the company specialised in the design and manufacture of industrial and explosion proof light fittings, intended for use in dangerous and extreme locations such as mines and oil refineries. Nearly 100 years later (albeit a subsidiary of a much larger US company the Federal Signal Corporation of Chicago) Victor are still operating from their location in the northeast of England.

Browse Trainspotters’ vintage Victors here

ELEKTROSVIT

The company is still around today and has manufactured lighting for well over 100 years. Its original production plant was built in 1906 near the railway line in a small village called Svatobořice-Mistřín, about 50km from the city of Brno, in the Czech Republic. 

In 1950 the plant became part of Elektrosvit Group and in 1993, the subsidiary was transformed into a state-owned company ELEKTROSVIT Svatobořice, a.s. and since 2002 the shares of the company have been held privately.

Similar to Victor, their speciality is rooted firmly in the industrial sector – producing fire and explosion-proof lighting for high risk applications such as gas-mines, chemical plants, power plants and refineries, paint producers and paper mills.

Trainspotters offers a steady stock of vintage Elektrosvit products as part of the well-established vintage lighting range.