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Finding the Right table-lamps for You
Well-crafted antique and vintage table lamps do more than provide light; the right fixture-and-table combination can add a focal point or creative element to any interior.
Proper table lamps have long been used for lighting our most intimate spaces. Perfect for lighting your nightstand or reading nook, table lamps play an integral role in styling an inviting room. In the years before electricity, lamps used oil. Today, a rewired 19th-century vintage lamp can still provide a touch of elegance for a study.
After industrial milestones such as mass production took hold in the Victorian era, various design movements sought to bring craftsmanship and innovation back to this indispensable household item. Lighting designers affiliated with Art Deco, which originated in the glamorous roaring ’20s, sought to celebrate modern life by fusing modern metals with dark woods and dazzling colors in the fixtures of the era. The geometric shapes and gilded details of vintage Art Deco table lamps provide an air of luxury and sophistication that never goes out of style.
After launching in 1934, Anglepoise lamps soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted the fixture as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.” The popular task light owed to a collaboration between a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine and a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry & Sons.
Some mid-century modern table lamps, particularly those created by the likes of Joe Colombo and the legendary lighting artisans at Fontana Arte, bear all the provocative hallmarks associated with Space Age design. Sculptural and versatile, the Louis Poulsen table lamps of that period were revolutionary for their time and still seem innovative today.
If you are looking for something more contemporary, industrial table lamps are demonstrative of a newly chic style that isn’t afraid to pay homage to the past. They look particularly at home in any rustic loft space amid exposed brick and steel beams.
Before you buy a desk lamp or table lamp for your living room, consider your lighting needs. The Snoopy lamp, designed in 1967, or any other “banker’s lamp” (shorthand for the Emeralite desk lamps patented by H.G. McFaddin and Company), provides light at a downward angle that is perfect for writing, while the Fontana table lamp and the beloved Grasshopper lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman each yield a soft and even glow. Some table lamps require lampshades to be bought separately.
Whether it’s a classic antique Tiffany table lamp, a Murano glass table lamp or even a bold avant-garde fixture custom-made by a contemporary design firm, the right table lamp can completely transform a room. Find the right one for you on 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022To tell if a carousel horse is an antique, consider the construction. True antiques are normally hollow wood and have one-piece designs. Solid wood horses and those that have detachable ears and tails are likely to be reproductions. You'll find a variety of expertly vetted antique carousel horses 1stDibs.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022Some telltale signs indicate if a carousel horse is a genuine antique. Most antiques are hollow, and all the body parts are permanently attached. Many modern carousel horses have detachable ears or tails. Because people looking at the carousel would only see the side facing out, most companies didn't pay to have both sides of the horse detailed — therefore, an authentic antique horse will likely only have carving and jewels on one side. On 1stDibs, shop a collection of expertly-vetted carousel horses from some of the world’s top sellers.
- 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022New carousel horses are made out of tropical wood, like Phillipine mahogany. Older antique carousel figures were carved out of basswood, pine and poplar. You’ll find a variety of carousel-inspired artwork from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.
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