Table lamp; Phase President model by GEI (Gabinete de Estudios Industriales), 1960s.

Table lamp; Fase President model by GEI (Gabinete de Estudios Industriales), 1960s.
Metal and wood.
Electrified. In working order. In good condition.
With signature on the base.
Measurements: 44 x 60 x 30 cm.

Spanish lighting manufacturer Fase was founded in Madrid in 1964 by industrial designer Pedro Martín. Martín sold his self-produced lamps first in markets, before successfully establishing a factory in Torrejón de Ardoz, on the outskirts of Madrid. In the 1970s, Fase was a major player in the Spanish manufacturing industry, contributing to an economy struggling with oil crises and a difficult transition to democracy. Fase sold lighting for more than three decades to 32 different countries, with its largest markets being the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Canada and the United States. Despite Fase's commercial success, information about the company and its history is scarce and sources often contradictory.

Early Fase designs are considered modern, with original combinations of metals such as chrome and steel, with marble and wood, in a range of bright colors. Often, the fixtures could also be moved thanks to a sophisticated swivel system devised by early Fase designers, which soon became a trademark along with their glass diffusers. Important Fase designs include Boomerang 64, Boomerang 2000, 520, Faro and President, all of which are believed to have been designed in the 1960s.

Beginning in the 1970s, Fase introduced modern Italian and Bauhaus-inspired designs to a Spanish public that, emerging from the Franco period, was unfamiliar with the most iconic styles of the 20th century. In addition to combining traditional materials such as wood with a modernist aesthetic, Fase created many lamps in a thoroughly modernist style. Lamps from this period include the Tharsis and the Babylon, both in chrome but with single and double lamps respectively, as well as the Harpoon and the stainless steel Impala (all from the 1970s).

Fase's lighting designers and workers remain largely anonymous, resulting in many lamps being falsely advertised as being produced by the Spanish manufacturer, giving rise to a whole genre of "Fase-type" lighting, which can be seen in lamps produced by Madrid-based lighting manufacturers Lupela, GEI (Gabinete Estudios Industriales) and Ma-Of. Authentic Fase lamps can be identified by the company name or logo, usually found on the lamp base or socket.

In the 1980s, Fase began manufacturing halogen lamps. Although these lamps were very popular and novel at the time, the break with tradition was unsuccessful and ultimately contributed to the company's demise.