Philips

Koninklijke Philips N.V. / Philips Gloeilampenfabriek, Eindhoven – Dutch Lighting and Electrical Engineering Manufacturer since 1891
 

Founding and Location
On 15 May 1891, merchant and banker Frederik Philips (1830–1900) and his son, mechanical engineer Gerard Leonard Frederik Philips (1858–1942), founded the firm Philips & Co. as an incandescent lamp factory (Gloeilampenfabriek) in Eindhoven, Province of North Brabant, Netherlands. The location was an affordably acquired vacant factory building in Eindhoven. Production commenced in 1892, initially reaching around 200 light bulbs per day; in 1893, Gerard Philips developed a process for manufacturing high-quality filament lamps, raising output to around 45,000 units per year. In 1895, his younger brother Anton Frederik Philips (1874–1951) joined the firm as a sales representative and drove international distribution. By around 1900, Philips was already among the largest incandescent lamp factories on the European continent. The firm's economic rise transformed Eindhoven into the Dutch "Lichtstad" (City of Light).
 
Corporate Development and Historical Milestones
In 1912, Philips was converted into a public limited company (N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken). In 1914, Philips established its own natural sciences laboratory, the NatLab (Natuurkundig Laboratorium), from which numerous fundamental technical developments in lighting, radio technology, medical technology and later semiconductor technology emerged over the following decades. After the First World War, Philips built a global distribution network and expanded into radio receivers (from 1927), electric shavers (Philishave from 1939), televisions, kitchen appliances, medical equipment (X-ray technology) and lighting systems of all kinds. In 1997/98, the company relocated its group headquarters from Eindhoven to Amsterdam and traded henceforth as Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. The lighting division was spun off in 2016 as an independent public limited company, "Philips Lighting N.V." (stock market listing on 27 May 2016 on Euronext Amsterdam under the ticker LIGHT), and renamed Signify N.V. in May 2018. Signify continues to hold the brand rights for "Philips" lighting and "Philips Hue"; the registered offices are located in Eindhoven (Signify High Tech Campus). The parent company Koninklijke Philips N.V. has focused on health and medical technology since the 2010s.
 
Product Range and Luminaire Manufacturing
Lighting was the company's core programme from its founding in 1891 until the spin-off in 2016. Over 125 years, Philips initially produced carbon-filament and metal-filament incandescent lamps, then from the 1930s fluorescent lamps (including TL tubes from 1938), high-pressure and low-pressure discharge lamps, halogen lamps, compact fluorescent lamps, reflector lamps, vehicle lamps, and heat and infrared lamps (Infraphil from 1946). In parallel, a broad range of luminaires was developed, including table, desk, floor, wall and pendant lights for the home, as well as technical luminaires for offices, industry, the stage, streets and sports. From the 1990s onwards, Philips was among the first corporations to invest massively in LED technology; in 2012 came the first generation of the Philips Hue LED system, a system of networked, colour-changing residential luminaires. Characteristic of classic Philips luminaires from the post-war period are enamelled metal shades (green, white, black, yellow), brass or chrome-plated metal frames, and later Bakelite and plastic elements.
 
Designers and Documented Luminaire Models
The most significant designer of the classic Philips lighting era was Louis Christiaan Kalff (born 25 November 1897 in Amsterdam; died 6 April 1976 in Waalre). Kalff studied architecture from 1916 at the Technische Universiteit Delft and wrote to Anton Philips in December 1924 urging the modernisation of the company's advertising. On 5 January 1925, the then 27-year-old joined Philips and modernised the company's advertising and corporate identity. In 1929, Kalff founded the lighting consultancy LIBU (Licht Beratungs- und Ingenieurbüro / Lighting Advisory Office), which advised architects, cities and companies on matters of lighting. In 1946, Kalff was appointed Art Director of Philips; he officially retired in 1960 but remained active as a consultant and architect for Philips into the 1960s. He died in 1976 in Waalre; in 2011, the Louis Kalff Instituut was established in his honour at the Regionaal Historisch Centrum Eindhoven, collecting and digitising the estates of Dutch industrial designers.
Iconic luminaire models with documented attribution to Louis Kalff (or to the Philips design department he led) include the "Bijou" table lamp (1950s; brass tripod base, conical tube, often dark green "mushroom shade" in enamelled metal), the "Decora" desk lamp (1950s), and its successor the "Z-lamp" / "Diplomat" (c. 1955; Z-shaped brass base, UFO-shaped shade in enamelled aluminium with central mirror bulb). Further models attributed to Kalff in the vintage trade include the "Major", "President" and "NX" series (including NX 110). Specialist publications note that while numerous luminaires from Philips catalogues of the 1950s and 60s can clearly be attributed stylistically to Kalff and his department, not every model is individually documented through primary sources; Kalff was head of the design department and set the formal language without personally designing every individual luminaire.
An outstanding technical model is the Philips infrared heat lamp "Infraphil 7525" (market launch 1946): the first Infraphil heat lamp of the post-war period, chrome-finished grip ring construction for angle adjustment, mouth-blown glass bulb without red filter, base and housing in lacquered aluminium. The original designer of the Infraphil 7525 is not officially documented and was presumably an in-house Philips designer; the attribution to Charlotte Perriand (1903–1999) widespread in the vintage trade stems from a 1949 exhibition in which Perriand displayed a photograph of the Infraphil 7525 – she was not, however, its designer. Successor models in the Infraphil range (including 7527, 7529, HP series) shaped the image of the domestic heat lamp through to the 1980s.
Beyond luminaires, Kalff shaped the appearance of Philips with further design classics: the "Chapel" radio (1931) and the "Philishave" electric shaver (1939). His best-known architectural work is the "Evoluon" in Eindhoven, a UFO-shaped exhibition and science building with a concrete dome measuring 77 m in diameter (169 km of reinforcing steel), which he designed together with architect Leo de Bever. The occasion was the 75th anniversary of Philips; the building opened on 24 September 1966. The Evoluon served as an exhibition building until 1989, was used from 1998 as a conference and exhibition centre, and reopened in 2022 as the "Next Nature Museum".
 
Stylistic Classification
The early Philips luminaires (up to c. 1920) follow the forms of Historicism and Art Nouveau; from the 1920s, coinciding with Kalff's appointment, the programme opens up to the New Objectivity and Art Deco. The 1930s bring, with the "Chapel" radio and the first Bakelite and metal desk lamps, classical modernism. The post-war period (1946–1970) represents the core of the best-known Philips luminaire aesthetic: enamelled metal shade on brass base, often in green, white or black, frequently with a three-legged "tripod" or "Z" base. From the 1960s and 70s, plastics are introduced (including for Infraphil housings and Space Age luminaires); the 1980s and 90s bring energy-saving lamp design, followed from 2012 by the Philips Hue LED systems. In the international vintage trade, classic Philips luminaires are listed under "Dutch Mid-Century Modern", "Bauhaus legacy", "Machine Age" and "Space Age".
 
Current Market Presence
Classic vintage Philips luminaires (especially the Bijou, Decora, Diplomat/Z, Major, President and Infraphil series) are regularly traded on international vintage design platforms, including 1stDibs, Pamono, Vntg, Selency, Whoppah, Catawiki, Marktplaats, Chairish and Etsy, as well as in Dutch and Belgian specialist galleries (Kingsman Vintage Design, Vintage Design & Co, Ztijl, Bert Mauritz, Amsterdam Modern, Sputnik Vintage). Current Philips lighting is distributed worldwide via Signify N.V. (including Philips Hue, Philips Consumer Luminaires, Philips Professional). The Philips Museum in Eindhoven documents the company's history including the luminaire and Kalff era; the Louis Kalff Instituut at the Regionaal Historisch Centrum Eindhoven preserves the estate of Dutch industrial designers.
 
Key Data at a Glance
Company name: Koninklijke Philips N.V. (group), Philips Lighting N.V. (lighting division, since 2018 Signify N.V.); historically: N.V. Philips' Gloeilampenfabrieken
Founders: Frederik Philips (1830–1900) and Gerard Philips (1858–1942); Anton Philips (1874–1951) from 1895
Location: Eindhoven, Province of North Brabant, Netherlands; from 1997/98 group headquarters Amsterdam; Signify headquarters Eindhoven (High Tech Campus)
Founded: 15 May 1891 (Philips & Co., incandescent lamp factory); public limited company from 1912; group name change 1998; Philips Lighting spin-off 2016; renamed Signify 2018
Milestones: 1892 commencement of serial production; 1893 Gerard Philips process; 1895 Anton Philips joins; 1912 public limited company; 1914 NatLab founded; 1925 Louis Kalff joins; 1929 LIBU founded; 1931 Chapel radio; 1938 TL tube; 1939 Philishave; 1946 Infraphil 7525; 1955 Z-/Diplomat table lamp; 1966 Evoluon (Kalff & de Bever); 1997/98 HQ relocation to Amsterdam; 2012 Philips Hue; 2016 Philips Lighting IPO; 2018 renamed Signify
Product programme (historical): incandescent, halogen, discharge, fluorescent and LED lamps; infrared and heat lamps (Infraphil); table, desk, floor, pendant, wall, street, industrial, vehicle and stage luminaires; radio, television, shaving, kitchen and medical technology; automotive electronics; from 2012 networked LED systems
Principal materials (luminaires): brass, enamelled steel/aluminium, chrome-plated steel, Bakelite, glass (mouth-blown and pressed), plastic; from 2012 LED modules with aluminium heat sinks
Designers (documented or attributed by name): Louis Christiaan Kalff (1897–1976, advertising and art director 1925–1960, head of LIBU from 1929); Leo de Bever (co-architect Evoluon 1966); Rein Veersema (Kalff's successor as Philips art director from 1961); Robert Oxenaar; Charlotte Perriand (name associated with Infraphil, but without documented authorship); subsequently numerous Philips and Signify in-house designers and collaborations (including Marcel Wanders in the Hue era)
Iconic luminaire and series models: Bijou table lamp (1950s); Decora desk lamp (1950s); Z-lamp / Diplomat (c. 1955); Major series; President series; NX series (including NX 110); Infraphil 7525 (1946) and successor models 7527/7529/HP; Philips Hue (from 2012); Chapel radio (1931) and Philishave (1939) as related Kalff classics; Evoluon (1966) as architectural icon
Design styles: Historicism, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Bauhaus legacy, Dutch Mid-Century Modern, Machine Age, Space Age, Post-Modernism through to contemporary LED design