The Cobra wall lamp is one of the most iconic products Greta Grossman designed in the 1950’s. In 1950, the Cobra lamp won the Good Design Award and was subsequently exhibited at the Good Design Show at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1940, she and her husband immigrated to the United States, where her approach to Swedish modernism struck a chord with single, professional women who felt that she understood their needs and sensibilities. She opened a store on Rodeo Drive, where her furniture and accessories quickly drew the attention of clients such as Greta Garbo, Joan Fontaine and Gracie Allen. In the 1950s, she founded her architecture office and designed 14 homes – 13 in California and one in Sweden – each one a showcase for her quietly dramatic approach. Grossman was highly influenced by European Modernism, which had been imported to the US by influencial architects, such as Walter Gropius (founder of the Bauhaus) and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Grossman, in turn, played a significant role in defining the aesthetic of mid-century Californian Modernism.
The classic Cobra lamp takes its name from the shape of the oval shade, which is reminiscent of a Cobra’s neck. The tubular flexible arm can be bent in all directions and the shade can be rotated through 360º. The base is covered in powder-coated aluminium and weighted with a cast iron ballast.
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