A beautiful pair of commissioned floor lamps by Paul Boman/Paavo Tynell for the United Paper Mills (Yhtyneet paperitehtaat) club house in Jämsänkoski. P. Boman / Oy Taito Ab, c. late 1940s. We acquired these lamps directly from the club house.
As these lamps were commissioned for a more classic and formal place, the overall design was reflective of the settings. The lamp legs were made of wood rather than the usual brass-rattan combination. The middle part retained the Tynell hallmark brass switch "box" and is lit by 3 lamps and finally the upper part also reminds us of the Tynell classic Chinese hat lamps, but with a more formal twist. A beautiful unique pair that suits formal spaces, reading rooms and libraries, or any interior with a classic vibe.
The United Paper Mills is an important company in Finnish industrial history that helped build and shape industrial towns around Finland. The company is now a multi-billion euro firm that is still functioning. The Jämsänkoski deputy's manor house that was turned into the company's club house, to where these lamps were commissioned, hosted endless important meetings and parties and accommodated many prominent state visitors such as Princess Ann and the former First Secretary and Premier of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushcev and Nikolai Bulganin who stayed in the Mansion and almost certainly had a few drinks next to these floors lamps in 1957.
It is also worth mentioning that Paul Boman was the only Finnish cabinet maker / company that was granted the Swedish Royal Purveyor to the court title as seen on the Boman stamp on the bottom.
Both lamps are stamped Oy Taito Ab.
Paavo Tynell (1890–1973) was a Finnish designer who is well renowned around the world for his incredible lighting fixtures and lamps. Tynell is known as the man who “illuminated Finland” and his works can be found in numerous public offices and buildings such as the Finnish Parliament House and the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York.
Tynell started as a sheet metal worker´s apprentice at G.W.Sohlbergs workshop in 1906. After that he moved to Taidetakomo Koru Oy in 1912, which was a metal workshop specializing in electric light fixtures. Then Paavo studied at the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki and after that he taught in it too. Paavo then founded Taito Oy in 1918 with a number of colleagues. Taito produced a number of other items other than just light fixtures in the early years, however the main focus became lamps after Finland adopted the use of electricity. By the 1930s Finnish households started buying light fixtures as the use of electricity became more common. In the 1920s Taito`s main sales were still mostly public commissions, for example the Paimio Sanatorium which was designed by Alvar aalto.
After WW2 and the quite challenging shortage years in Finland, Tynell finally had his major breakthrough. His style became quite distinctive and was mainly aimed at the U.S. markets. He sold both catalogue lamps as well as commissioned works through Finland House in N.Y. Although his late 1940s-1950s style was widely criticized at first in Finland, he stuck to it, and luckily so. It wasn´t long before his lamp fixtures became Finland House´s best selling product. Nowadays Tynells high end lamps fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars worldwide, and deservingly so. His commisioned lamps number in the thousands, and unfortunately not all documents or archive materials are intact.
