Natural glass form: Drop-shaped opal glass lamp by Wilhelm Braun-Feldweg.

Wilhem Braun-Feldweg, a leading post-war industrial designer, invented these opal glass lamps in 1959. Braun-Feldweg based his design on the drop-like bubbles that are formed in glass-blowing. In his own words: “First a round ball appears, then this turns under natural pressure into an oval droplet. Seen this way, the drop is the most obvious natural shape for all glassware.” In the 1960s these lamps were produced in the Peill&Putzler glass-blowing works; after a break, they are now being made again in a Czech glass-blowing works, and are of matt Triplex opal glass, mouth-blown as in the old days.