Robert Dudley Best
Robert Dudley Best, heir to lighting manufacturer, Best & Lloyd, produced the first manifestation of Bauhaus in the UK: the Bestlite.
Born in 1892 in Birmingham, Best went on to study at the Düsseldorf School of Industrial Design and the Interior Design Atelier in Paris where he became heavily inflluenced by the then revolutionary Bauhaus School. Perfectly conforming to the Bauhaus manifesto, Best's lighting designs combined function and simplicity while blurring the boundaries between industrialisation and aesthetic works of art. In continuous production since 1930, and even famously owned by Winston Churchill, the Bestlite is still designed and manufactured in Birmingham and has retained its industrial feel despite the passing of time.
