NAPAKO

NAPAKO (Toolmakers–Tinsmiths–Metal Pressers) was founded in Prague in September 1919 as a cooperative of small metalworking workshops Národní technické muzeum. Initially focusing on architectural metalwork, household accessories and fittings, the firm expanded into electrical lighting fixtures as electrification grew – lighting eventually became its core product 

Key designers and stylistic evolution

• Ing. Miloslav Prokop, active in the late 1930s, drove a shift from historicizing designs towards minimalist functional pieces. Under his design ethos, chrome plated fixtures paired with glass became hallmarks of NAPAKO’s early modernist signature. He collaborated with Czech avant‑garde architects Bohuslav Fuchs and Pavel Janák 

• Josef Hůrka assumed a central designer role from the 1940s and made his mark in the 1950s–1960s. His lighting designs embodied the Brussels Style, combining simple industrial form, color accents (grey, black, later bold red), and fluid geometries. Hůrka’s creations gained recognition domestically and abroad, and represent peak expressions of Czech mid‑century lighting 

Timeline highlights

• 1930s: under Prokop’s guidance, NAPAKO transitions to Bauhaus-inspired functional lighting with glass and chrome compositions.

• Post‑WWII and 1960s: NAPAKO grows into a major state‑backed enterprise, producing architectural fixtures for major public buildings and mass‑produced residential lighting

• 1950s–1960s: Josef Hůrka’s signature designs in Brussels Style dominate the catalog, producing both decorative and highly functional pieces beloved by collectors 

• Post‑1989: with competition from imported goods, lamp production ceased around 1999; the NAPAKO name continues in metalwork, security doors and advertising frames