Welcome to www.trippyglitters.com | Chicago Glitters | Mastercrafters | Florence Art Co | Heat Tapes
www.trippyglitters.com by Anthony Voz, is a website that documents the history and styles of beautiful vintage glitter lamps from all over the world, that will take you on a trip.
With its kinetic shimmering effect, the original sister product to the lava lamp, the glitter lamp is a beautiful home decoration item that was extremely popular in the vintage years. This page is dedicated to the glitter lamp designs produced in the USA, in Chicago. Who remembers Hy Spector's Lava Lite factory on 1650 West Irving Park Road in Chicago?
Chicago was the home of unique decorative lighting with companies such as Lava-Simplex Internationale (The iconic manufacturer of the Lava-Lite), Heat Tapes, MasterCrafters, Florence Art Co,Pagoda Lamp Co, who produced their own take on vintage kinetic lighting and all of these companies produced glitter lamps in one form or another. Chicago was full of businesses who created very beautiful and in some cases very similar designs of glitter lamps.
Whilst these companies may no longer exist or manufacture in Chicago, they left a trail of iconic and beautiful kinetic lighting designs. Who remembers the way Chicago used to shine?
This website was brought to you from the people behind www.hippielight.com which looks at the history of the vintage Lava Lite lamps that were produced and sold in the USA and Canada, www.flowoflava.com, the history of the Crestworth & Mathmos Astro Lamp in the UK and Europe. If you like we can feature your lamp too. With thanks to: Craig French, Bohdan Rudy, George Roussos, Wilfried Virmond, Eliot Lees, Anthony Peck, Chris Moon Photography, Anna Santana, Christian Schulze-Bäing, Nick & Callum Carr, 1winkandaprayerme, Marc van Aken and George Stadnik... Please drop us an email at hippielight@googlemail.com. Thank you. Created & Designed by: Anthony Voz. |
www.trippyglitters.com | Below: Vintage USA Stardust Lites (Glitter lamps)
One of the most interesting glitter lamps from the vintage years was produced in Chicago by Heat Tapes Inc and feature beautiful ornate bases. Titled, Stardust Lites, these lamps are beautiful glitter lamps which feature slow moving shimmering flakes of glitter floating in colourful liquid. Stardust Lites feature an ornate styled base which add character to the lamp, a wooden base and furthermore a switch on the base for easy operation.
Stardust Lites shipped in Gold, Red, Blue and Green. A second version of these lamps featuring lava liquids was produced and titled Bubble Lites. These lamps have a very beautiful design and a very beautiful vintage look to them. |
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www.trippyglitters.com | Below: Vintage USA Pagoda Starlite Glitter Lamps
Below: Pagoda Lamp by Pagoda Lamp Co. Produced in: Gold, Red, Blue, Green, Orange & Chartreuse. We love the cap on these lamps! |
www.trippyglitters.com | Below: Vintage USA Florence Art Co. Glitter Lamps
One of the most beautiful manufacturers of glitter lamps in the USA in the vintage years was the Florence Art Co. who produced a wide range of beautiful glitter lamps, some featuring one glitter bottle, some featuring two or some even featuring three. Whilst many of their designs were traditional looking, they were very beautiful pieces and below once can see a pair complete with their original lamp hang tags which show the lamps named as "Astro-Lite" and the details: Florence Art Co. 831. W. Washington Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607. The examples below show designs produced by the Florence Art Co. Oddly these company was indeed in the same state as Lava-Simplex-Scribe. Furthermore the Florence Art Co name has been seen attached to vintage Laff-Lite (non-liquid motion lamps) models.
Florence Art Co. was listed in the Illinois Secretary of State Certified List of Domestic and Foreign Corporations from 1959 through 1977. Initially, its officers were A.P. Lerman, president; S.A. Lerman, secretary; and L.N. Lerman, registered agent.
Hello, I started as a part time packer at Florence my first year, then full time in the office. Don't recall those names you wrote about, but now in my seventies, I'm lucky if I remember my own telephone number! Florence was just a little company in Chicago. They made small items- figurines, pen and pencil holders, small acrylic paintings and these sparkle lamps. We only sold them for about a year before we dropped them from our line because they weren't selling. We found that department stores would put them out on display, but not plugged in, so nobody noticed them. I had a lot of samples of things we made all over my house at one time and I had many of these lamps too.
Irene - Message from former Florence Art Co. Employee.
Images below are courtesy of Bohdan Rudy, Kwood93449 & Frank from West Nyack New York! |
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www.trippyglitters.com | Below: Vintage Other USA Glitter Lamp Design
Below: Another Vintage USA Glitter Lamp design ... |
www.trippyglitters.com | Below: Vintage USA MasterCrafters Clocks which feature slow moving shimmering glitter.
Examples of two models of timepieces made in Chicago by the iconic manufacturer of clocks by MasterCrafters. These wonderful clocks combine the element of time keeping with the effect of glitter. Mastercrafters' ownership was affliated with Florence Art Co which would explain the similarity in glitter used between companies.
The Action Starlite Model: 47, which features two glitter tubes (each located on either side of the clock's face), is the more contemporary design, of the two. We love the red and black carton line-drawn graphic artwork on the packaging of the Action Starlite.
To operate clock, plug into electrical outlet. Set to correct time. Action in glass tubes is controlled by light in base of clock. Turn light switch on. The action will start in 2 to 5 minutes. If quicker starting is desired pull the glass tubes out of base and gently shake them, replace in openings in base. To replace bulbs remove the screw in each of the four rubber feet in base of clock. Replace only with 10C7 bulbs.
Model No. 434 features a more traditional clock design with a single tube placed in front of a metal reflector, this reflector accentuates and reflects the kinetic glitter effect. To operate clock, plug into electrical outlet. Set to correct time. Action in glass tubes is controlled by light in base of clock. Turn light switch on. The action will start in 2 to 5 minutes. If quicker starting is desired gently lay clock on back and then immediately place in upright position.
To replace bulb remove 2 smaller screws near ends of clock base. Replace only with 10C7 bulb. |
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