Bauhaus Scissor Wall Lamp by H. Th. J. A. Busquet for Hala Zeist | 1940s Dutch Design Workshop Light
Bauhaus Scissor Wall Lamp by H. Th. J. A. Busquet for Hala Zeist | 1940s Dutch Design Workshop Light
Shipping costs calculated at checkout
An original Hala Zeist scissor lamp from the 1940s, still carrying the deep, honest patina of decades spent lighting a real workshop. Its extendable scissor arm reaches from just under half a metre to well over a metre, making it as practical today as it was the day it left the factory.
At a glance
| Manufacturer | Hala Zeist, Netherlands |
| Model | Scissor lamp, large extendable scissor mechanism |
| Date | Circa 1940s |
| Mount | Wall mounted |
| Colour | Original grey |
| Condition | Original patina, honest signs of wear |
| Wiring | Rewired, approx. 3m electrical cord, EU plug, new rotating switch mounted in the shade |
| Fitting | E27, bulb included |
| Wall bracket | Original bracket was missing; a new one has been custom made, in a slightly different shade of grey |
| Wall mount height | 12.5 cm (4.9") |
| Lampshade diameter | 14 cm (5.5") |
| Extendable range | 45 cm up to 110 cm (17.7" up to 43.3") |
| Availability | 1 available |
| Import duty | Payable by the buyer in their own country |
The story
Hala Zeist is one of the oldest lighting brands in the Netherlands, founded in Zeist in 1932 by Herman Theodoor Jan Anthoin Busquet, who started the company at just eighteen years old. The name Hala has its roots in the Hannoversche Lampenfabrik, the German lighting company whose fixtures the young Busquet initially imported and sold before developing his own designs, and it stuck even as the company grew into a manufacturer in its own right. Busquet remained the company's driving designer until his retirement in 1955, working out of a workshop on the Koppelweg in Zeist, and his sober, functional approach to lighting became closely associated with the Dutch modernist "Goed Wonen" movement of the postwar years. His best-known design, the Pinocchio lamp, and later series such as the Solar and Sun lines carried that same practical, unfussy sensibility that made Hala fixtures a fixture, quite literally, in Dutch offices, studies, and workshops for decades.
This scissor lamp reflects exactly that philosophy: a mechanism built for real, adjustable use rather than decoration. The scissor arm lets the lamp reach out and retract as the task demands, swinging the shade into whatever angle the work in front of it requires, precisely the kind of unglamorous, well-engineered solution Hala built its reputation on.
The lamp has been rewired with roughly 3 metres of electrical cord and an EU plug, and a new rotating switch has been mounted directly in the shade for easy control. It holds an E27 fitting, with the bulb shown in the photographs included. The original wall bracket was missing by the time this lamp reached us, so we had a new one custom made to match, in a grey that sits slightly differently from the lamp's original tone, an honest, visible difference rather than an attempt to hide it.
Suited to collectors of Dutch design and Bauhaus-influenced lighting, interior designers looking for a genuinely functional vintage piece with real provenance, and anyone setting up a workshop, studio, or reading corner who wants a light that still does exactly the job it was built for.
