Robert Dudley Best studied industrial and interior design in Düsseldorf and Paris. He was strongly influenced by the Bauhaus movement, which was taking Europe by storm with its stringent lines and clean style. His immersion in the creative surroundings inspired Robert Dudley so much that, during his studies in 1928-29, he designed the lamp collection which subsequently became synonymous with his name. Best wanted the collection to symbolise the spirit of the times, appealing to avant garde architects and setting the agenda for lamp design. After an article in the renowned Architects’ Journal, the English architectural community embraced the lamp, and declared it the first example of a Bauhaus- inspired product in the UK. Robert Dudley Best continued to develop the collection until the late 1930s.