Bernard Schottlander

German-British sculptor and designer Bernard Schottlander (1924–1999) carved a singular niche in mid-century modernism by treating illumination as kinetic art. Born in Mainz, Germany, Schottlander fled to England in 1939 as a Jewish refugee. His wartime experience working as a factory welder in structural engineering profoundly informed his industrial mastery of metals, which he later refined through formal sculpture studies at the Leeds College of Art. Describing himself as "a designer for interiors and a sculptor for exteriors," Schottlander looked to the kinetic mobiles of Alexander Calder for inspiration. In 1951, he conceived his masterpiece: the Mantis lighting series. Reissued today by French brand DCW Éditions, the collection—spanning the BS1 floor lamp, BS2 wall sconce, and BS3 desk luminaire—pairs asymmetrical spun aluminum shades with flexible steel rods and an ingenious counterweighted pivoting mechanism that defies gravity.