LIGHTWORM, TLWS 04 or TLWS 05: Walter Schnepel's Own Lamps

Walter Schnepel spent decades putting other people's lamps back into production before he signed any of his own. This piece compares the three table lamps he designed for TECNOLUMEN, the bendable LIGHTWORM, the opal-glass TLWS 04 and the linen-shaded TLWS 05, and explains which one belongs on which table.

From Wagenfeld's lamp to lamps of his own

Schnepel founded TECNOLUMEN in Bremen in 1980 with a single purpose: to re-edit Wilhelm Wagenfeld's WG 24, the glass and metal table lamp that came out of the Bauhaus metal workshop in Weimar in 1923–24. The company grew into a manufactory for modernist lighting, working from original drawings and treating every lamp as a numbered object rather than a stock item. If you want the background to that first project, our piece on the WG 24 and the Bauhaus metal workshop covers it in detail.

Years of making the modernist canon to exacting tolerances left a mark on Schnepel's own design work. When he started drawing lamps under his own name in the 2000s, he kept the habits of the re-editions: few parts, materials that show what they are, and proportion doing the work that ornament might do elsewhere. Yet the three lamps he produced in quick succession, in 2002, 2003 and 2005, are strikingly different from one another. One is a toy-like flexible tube, one is a glass cylinder that could have been drawn in Dessau, and one is a soft textile cone. Every one of them is sequentially numbered and carries the TECNOLUMEN mark.

The three lamps side by side

The quickest way to see how far apart these designs sit is to put their facts in one place. All dimensions below are as TECNOLUMEN lists them.

LIGHTWORM LWS 02: the lamp you shape yourself

The LIGHTWORM LWS 02 Table Lamp reduces a desk lamp to almost nothing: a base, a flexible metal spine and a bulb. There is no shade. Instead the bulb has a mirrored crown, which hides the filament from direct view and sends the light back down and outwards, so the naked bulb behaves like a glare-controlled source. It is a simple optical idea and it explains why the lamp can look so raw while still being comfortable to sit beside.

The spine is the point. It can be coiled into a low loop or straightened to its full 400 mm, and the width shifts between 180 and 300 mm as you bend it. That makes LIGHTWORM the only lamp of the three whose light you aim. Bend it low over a keyboard for task light, turn it towards a wall to graze a row of books, or curl it up so it throws a small pool on a narrow desk. The two finishes change its personality: nickel plating with a transparent cable reads as bright and workshop-like, while the all-black version with a black cable is quieter and more graphic.

Choose it if you want a working lamp with a sense of humour, or if your surface changes use through the day. It is the least formal of the three, and it suits industrial rooms and pared-back interiors equally.

TLWS 04: an opal cylinder in the Bauhaus line

A year later Schnepel went in the opposite direction. The TLWS 04 Table Lamp is built from pure geometric parts: a cylindrical reflector of mouth-blown, opal-cased glass on a slim nickel-plated column and round foot. Here the connection to the re-editions is most visible. The opal glass does what it does on the Wagenfeld lamps, spreading the light evenly in every direction and keeping the bulb out of sight, so the whole cylinder glows rather than one bright point.

Because the glass is blown by hand, small air bubbles can appear in it. TECNOLUMEN treats these as a sign of the process rather than a flaw, and they are worth knowing about before you choose one. The pull switch is a deliberate choice as well: a small mechanical gesture in place of an anonymous inline switch, in keeping with the tactile directness the Bauhaus valued.

At 515 mm tall and 210 mm across, the TLWS 04 is the largest of the three and the most architectural. It holds its own on a sideboard, a hall console or a living-room side table, and its glare-free glow makes it easy to live with as a lamp that stays on all evening. It is not a task lamp; it is the one that sets the general tone of a room.

TLWS 05: linen, colour and a softer light

The TLWS 05 Table Lamp of 2005 is the warmest of Schnepel's designs. Its shade is laminated linen on a transparent film, tapering from 180 mm at the bottom to 110 mm at the top, and it sits on a frame of nickel-plated brass with a black-coated cable. The overall height of the version listed here is 310 mm. TECNOLUMEN makes it in two sizes and five shade colours, so it is also the most personal lamp of the family.

Linen changes the light in a way glass does not. It filters rather than diffuses, giving a warmer glow that fades towards the edges of the shade and shows a faint trace of the weave when lit. That makes the TLWS 05 a natural bedside lamp or a companion to a reading chair, and a good choice where you want atmosphere more than brightness. The metal frame keeps the outline crisp, so it does not slide into the generic look of a fabric-shaded lamp.

Which Schnepel lamp to choose

Start with what the lamp needs to do. If the answer is light on a specific task, at a desk or over a shelf, LIGHTWORM is the only one of the three you can point, and its adjustable height lets it fit spaces the others cannot. If you want a lamp that lights a room calmly and looks composed when switched off, the TLWS 04 is the strongest piece, and the closest in spirit to the Wagenfeld lamp that started the company. If the lamp is for the bedroom or a corner where you wind down, the TLWS 05 gives the softest light and the most freedom with colour.

They also work together. A TLWS 04 on a sideboard and a TLWS 05 beside the bed share the same nickel-plated metal and the same restraint, while a LIGHTWORM on a desk adds a note of play without breaking the family resemblance. Whichever you choose, each lamp carries its own number and the TECNOLUMEN mark, which ties it to the Bremen manufactory and its Bauhaus starting point. To see how these designs sit beside the Wagenfeld re-editions and the Art Déco pieces, browse the full TECNOLUMEN collection.