Paavo Tynell Ceiling Lamp "Cannon Shell" Model 9040, Brass Flowers, Idman 1950s

From the iconic Paavo Tynell series nicknamed the Cannon shell, this beautiful piece has the attention-demanding appearance of a falling bomb shell, yet the softness of spring with the flower decorations masterfully placed on the shaft. The central cannon shell shaft is made fully in brass and has flower like decorations embedded along its sides with a soft champagne coloured glass shade intersecting to hide the lamps. That gives light directly upwards and indirectly downwards through the glass and the reflection off the ceiling. A beautiful masterpiece in design to adorn luxurious interiors. 

The lamp is polished and restored with some flower decorations and the lower part remade exactly to the original measurements.

In case you are looking for a set, this lamp is one of three that were acquired from the same place and are each listed seperately. The lamps can be seen in the photos. This is the one in the middle in the photos.

Paavo Tynell (1890–1973) was a Finnish designer who is well renowned around the world for his incredible lighting fixtures and lamps. Tynell is known as the man who “illuminated Finland” and his works can be found in numerous public offices and buildings such as the Finnish Parliament House and the office of Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York.

Tynell started as a sheet metal worker´s apprentice at G.W. Sohlbergs workshop in 1906. After that he moved to Taidetakomo Koru Oy in 1912, which was a metal workshop specializing in electric light fixtures. Then Paavo studied at the Central School of Applied Arts in Helsinki and after that he taught in it too. Paavo then founded Taito Oy in 1918 with a number of colleagues. Taito produced a number of other items other than just light fixtures in the early years, however the main focus became lamps after Finland adopted the use of electricity. By the 1930s Finnish households started buying light fixtures as the use of electricity became more common. In the 1920s Taito`s main sales were still mostly public commissions, for example the Paimio Sanatorium which was designed by Alvar aalto.

After WW2 and the quite challenging shortage years in Finland, Tynell finally had his major breakthrough. His style became quite distinctive and was mainly aimed at the U.S. markets. He sold both catalogue lamps as well as commissioned works through Finland House in N.Y. Although his late 1940s-1950s style was widely criticized at first in Finland, he stuck to it, and luckily so. It wasn´t long before his lamp fixtures became Finland House´s best selling product. Nowadays Tynell´s high end lamps fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars worldwide, and deservingly so. His commisioned lamps number in the thousands, but unfortunately not all documents or archive materials are intact.