Cobra floor lamp – Gubi

Greta M. Grossman

The Cobra lamp is  very representative of  Greta Grossman stule during the 40's and 50's.

The lamp won the Good Design Award and has been subsequently exhibited at the Good Design Show at the Museum of Modern Art. 

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 tubular flexible arm can be bent in all directions. The base is covered in powder-coated aluminium and weighted with a cast iron ballast. 

Greta Magnusson maintained a prolific forty-year career on two continents: Europe and North America and operated as mover and shaker in the male dominated world of mid-century modern design. Her achievements were many and encompassed industrial design, interior design and architecture. In 1933, having successfully completed her fellowship at the renowned Stockholm arts institution, Konstfack, she opened Studio, a combined store and workshop in Stockholm. During the same year Greta Magnusson married jazz musician, Billy Grossman with whom she later emigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles.

Upon their arrival in California in 1940, Greta M. Grossman opened a well publicized shop on Rodeo Drive, where she was among the first to bring the Scandinavian modern aesthetic to southern California's burgeoning modernist scene. Her unique approach to Swedish modernism was an instant hit in Los Angeles and soon she attracted celebrity clients, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Joan Fontaine, Gracie Allen, Frank Sinatra and it was not long before she began appearing alongside the likes of Charles Eames and Isamu Noguchi.

While Greta M. Grossman is the architect behind more than 15 homes spanning the globe from California to Sweden, she is most noted for her industrial designs where the Gräshoppa Floor Lamp and Cobra Table Lamp belongs to the most famous works.

Through the 1940's and 50's Greta M. Grossman exhibited her designs at museums worldwide, including MoMA in New York and The National Museum in Stockholm.