Marbro Lamp History

Marbro Lamp Company was founded by Morris Markoff and his brother, hence the name Marbro from Markoff brothers. They started the provider shortly following WWII. The provider was located in a three story brick developing in the garment district of Los Angeles, just south of downtown right by the Santa Monica Freeway. Throughout the time they ran the company, they sold just about as numerous antiques as they did lamps.

They also had a sizable organization in decorative accessories such as tables, and a lot of animal figurines. There had been quite a couple of dog figurines that were life size. 1 dog figurine was a life size Terrific Dane purchased by the actor Jack Webb (Dragnet). There had been fairly a couple of celebrities that came in to their shop. One actress who shopped there repeatedly was Deborah Shelton who at the time played the portion of "Mandy" on Dallas (keep in mind J.R.).

Marbro sold their goods mainly through interior designers and a couple of upscale furniture shops. You would not obtain a Marbro product in a chain furniture shop or discount shop. Most of the goods had been built to order, and a common order from a designer or retailer took between 75 and 90 days to complete.

Most of the components that made up the lamp bodies (ceramic, brass and so on) were bought from modest firms around the globe (see porcelain figure from Italy at top of page). In the later years virtually all of the brass came from India. For the most portion, none of the bodies had been produced on internet site. Marbro was nicely-recognized for importing a selection of unique lighting from all over the world. Italy was the source for alabaster, Japan and China for Porcelain, Brass in India and Crystal from Germany and France. Lamps would also be made from sculptures that prospects brought in to the shop.

When the lamp bodies arrived, a group of Marbro employees would make the wood bases, spin the metal caps, make the shades, and do the painting and tinting. With the assist of about 20-40 other true world class artisans, metal workers, finishers and hand produced shade makers, they produced lamps and shades that are some of last of their sort of art. For example, Marbro brass was in no way just plain brass. It was stained with a tinting that was homemade and kept secret by the provider (reminiscent of Handel Lamp Co.). There had been rather a couple of of these preparations all kept in one of those small metal boxes on a 3x5" file card just like a recipe. It was really distinctive.

Countless of the lamp bodies that were bought were not exactly matched as pairs. Oftentimes 10-20 crystal vases would have to be sorted via to get two of the precise identical height so that if the lamps had been purchased as a pair, they would match. All of the shades were produced by hand by a group of ladies on the second floor of the building with extremely little automation.

The lamps were deemed high style fine lamps for the times and presently. Brass and porcelain lamps would wholesale for a$300 - $3,000 although crystal and bronze lamps had been $2,000 - $four,000.

The manufacturing plant was closed in Los Angeles in December 1990 and the inventory and equipment were moved to LaBarge Mirrors in Holland, MI. At the time LaBarge Mirrors was a Masco Corp subsidiary. Some time later, the Marbro product line was discontinued. Ultimately, Masco sold most of their dwelling furnishings manufacturing holdings.

Marbo assembled a especially talented, experienced and most special group of artists and craftsmen and a number of of their fine lamps exhibit a specific distinctive style. Most of the employees had been in their 50's and older. There had been rather a couple of employees in their late 60's and 70's. Today their lamps are pretty collectible and sought after specially by knowledgeable collectors who are familiar with the company's lamps and history.

It is obvious from the company's careful selection of art objects and their special proprietary techniques of lamp creating that their aim was to style stunning exceptional and especially high quality lamps. Their success is obvious from the rather fine collectible Marbro lamps that are nonetheless sought soon after at present.