British designer Robert Dudley Best was born in 1892. Throughout his childhood, he spent a lot of time at the Birmingham-based lamp factory that was founded by his grandfather – also called Robert Best – in 1840. The factory was later renamed Best & Lloyd in 1868 when Best’s grandfather partnered with a banker named Harry Lloyd.
Deciding that he was to join the family trade, Best travelled to Düsseldorf and then to Paris from 1928-29 to study industrial and interior design, specialising in lamps.
Throughout his studies he was inspired by the European Bauhaus movement, which was rebelling against traditional concepts and bringing the notion of simplicity to the forefront. It was during this time that Best designed the lamp collection which would eventually share his name.
On returning to England Best was full of grand ideas of how his new designs could revolutionise the family business. However, Best’s father – who was now running the factory – was cautious about putting the lamp into production as he felt that they would not fit with the existing collection and wouldn’t appeal to their customers who liked decorated lamps. Never-the-less, the lamp went into production in 1930, though it was the industrial sector, not fashion, which first saw the use of the Bestlite’s functional and durable design.
Although, the English architectural community soon embraced the lamp after an article about it appeared in the Architects’ Journal. The Bestlite was soon declared the first example of a Bauhaus-inspired product in the UK.
However, the lamp achieved maximum exposure when it was discovered that Winston Churchill was a big fan. In addition to being pictured with it sitting on his desk in Whitehall, it was revealed that he took the lamp with him on trips around the world.
Best continued to develop the collection until the late 1930s and today ten of his lamps are in production.
Best took over the empire following the death of his father and in 1979 he himself handed over the reins to his son John Best, five year before his death in 1984.