Two British icons. One giant celebration. Penguin books | Anglepoise

Two paragons of British creativity mark a prodigious milestone this year, as the Anglepoise Original 1227 Desk Lamp and Penguin Books each celebrate their 90th anniversaries. To commemorate the occasion, Anglepoise and Penguin have joined forces on a landmark collaboration: four Giant 1227 Lamps have been reimagined by celebrated illustrators Anthony Burrill, Rob Lowe (aka Supermundane), Nadia Shireen and Lakwena Maciver, each inspired by the joy of reading. Each lamp will be auctioned online to raise funds for the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre, in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, giving four winners the chance to own an entirely singular piece of design heritage.

Now’s your chance to own a piece of design and literary history.

Bid big. Go bold. Light up your life.

You can place your bid now on the auction site.

Lakwena Maciver
Vibrant colour and bold text combine in Lakwena Maciver’s joyful and gently subversive work. Based in London, Lakwena’s work has been shown internationally in cities including London, Paris, Rotterdam, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Miami. Her works in the public realm have ranged from one of the largest public artworks in the UK wrapping an electrical substation in London, to a juvenile detention centre in Arkansas, a monastery in Vienna, and the Bowery Wall in New York City.

Lakwena has used her bold and graphically strong application of colour on her lamp, with typographical treatment to the shade and base.

Anthony Burrill
Anthony Burrill is an internationally renowned graphic artist, print-maker and designer. His persuasive, up-beat style of communication makes him sought after by big brands, advertising agencies and design schools the world over. He is best known for his typographic, text-based compositions, including the now-famous ‘Work Hard & Be Nice to People’, which has become a mantra for the design community and beyond.

Taking his typically graphic use of lettering, Anthony has placed his initials A.B. on the base and added the rest of the alphabet on the shade, using a signwriter to paint in black his bold graphic lettering.

Nadia Shireen
Nadia Shireen enjoyed making homemade magazines and comics as a child. She studied law at university and then worked in magazine journalism; it was during this time that she started to draw again. After a lifetime of doodling in the sidelines, Nadia decided to pay some attention to drawing and in 2007 was accepted onto an MA course in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Her debut book Good Little Wolf received a mention in the Bologna Ragazzi Opera Prima Award and won the UKLA Book Award. Nadia has been shortlisted for the Roald Dahl Funny Prize and the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize.

Her approach is a playful interpretation on a character she would have created for one of her books. The colour pallet is bright and vibrant and based upon the key colours from the iconic Penguin triband book covers. The whole Giant Anglepoise lamp has become the character with the shade being the head, the arms and limbs, and grounded with an orange triband base.

Rob Lowe
Rob Lowe (also known as Supermundane) an artist, illustrator and writer who enjoys working with geometric shapes, lines, colours, patterns and words to create playful, multi-layered and philosophical work. With a background in graphic design, he approaches projects with a sense of humour. Developing deeply personal work with a wide appeal, rooted in the universality of the human condition

Rob has used calligraphic style squiggles applied by pen in black and blue ink over a white Giant. This form has a unique flowing movement taken from some of his flat artwork and is continued inside the shade. He has also reinterpreted the Penguin logo in his style on the outside of the shade.