French Table Lamp by Jean-Louis Domecq for Jieldé, 1950s

French industrial designer Jean-Louis Domecq (1920-1983) is known for his Jieldé lamps, which are recognized today as an icon of the French industrial arts. Much like its earlier counterpart, the Anglepoise, Jieldé lamps have played an instrumental role in popularizing the “industrial style” in domestic spaces. 

In 1950, frustrated by the lack of heavy-duty task lamps suitable for use in the workshops that he managed at the time, Domecq decided to design and produce his own industrial lamp. In the past, the absence of durable synthetic insulation materials caused the wiring in adjustable lamps to break easily, which contributed to many accidents. Domecq required something that he could fully articulate without interfering with the electrical wiring. The result, known as the Standard (1950), was a heavy-duty, steel lamp that could be twisted and turned in multiple positions, as the copper contacts ensured rotation up to the mechanical limit of each joint.

Domecq spent the next two years perfecting the design for industrialized production and, in 1953, established Jieldé in Lyon to fabricate and distribute his lamps, in both floor and desk models. The company’s name was formed using the French pronunciation of Domecq’s initials.

After Domecq passed away in 1983, his daughter Marie-Françoise Domecq took control of the company. Under her direction, the company focused on the domestic market. In 1987, the Loft Collection was unveiled, which was an updated re-design of the original Standard. Once devoted to professional use in industrial environments, Jieldé lamps became a popular interior design motif in the 1990s. In 2002, the company was sold to Philippe Belier, who introduced new collections Signal (2006), and Augustin (2010). Keeping with tradition, each lamp continues to be individually numbered.

French lighting company Jieldé is the brainchild of Lyonese industrial workshop foreman Jean Louis Domecq (1920-1983). Toward the end of the 1940s, Domecq was searching for heavy-duty, adjustable light sources to equip the workstations of his facility. Frustrated with the available options, he decided to design his own fixture with a multi-joint, articulated arm embodied in a super robust construction. By the early 1950s, Domecq launched the Jieldé company to produce table, floor, and wall-mounted versions of his lamp system.

This task lamp has impressed design experts around the world, including Sir Terence Conran, who wrote in his book Lamps & Lighting that “the ingenuity of the Jieldé lies in its electrical circuit, which consists simply of metal discs incorporated into the hinges. This means the lamp can be moved in any direction without breaking a wire.” In other words, the Jieldé lamp is seen as “form follows function” at its finest. Today, different models of the Jieldé lamps are known as the Standard, the Loft, the Signal, and the Lak. The company also produces pendant lights.

Domecq’s daughter, Marie-Françoise, took over when her father died in 1983. In 2002, she sold Jieldé, but the company continues to fabricate these lamps by hand in Lyon, each one numbered and marked with the company emblem.