Ara Table Lamps by Philippe Starck for Flos, 1988

Designer Philippe Starck (b. 1949) once said: “Nothing exists without light. Light is everything.” It should come as no surprise, then, that the prolific French creative has tried his hand at numerous lighting designs, all of which seek to push the boundaries of form in some way. The Ara table lamp, named for Starck’s eldest daughter, is one of several lighting designs he created for Italian manufacturer FLOS, the name behind some of the most inventive lights in history.

The fixture was released in 1988, six years after a commission to redesign the private rooms at Paris’s Élysée Palace for then-president François Mitterand catapulted Starck to global design stardom. The Ara table lamp consists of a simple chrome-plated metal base and tilted stem, atop which sits a “shade” in the shape of a horn that can be rotated in order to direct the light. It contains a single halogen bulb. The exaggerated and unexpected nature of the shape is typical of Starck’s thought-provoking approach to design; he frequently manipulates objects just enough, requiring the viewer to contemplate and question them.

The son of an aircraft engineer, Starck is also prone to toying with functionality and mechanics; on the Ara, the light is activated not by an external switch or pull but simply by pointing the horn shape up or down. The Ara table lamp, which is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum, has since been discontinued by FLOS. It is only available through resale.

A ubiquitous name in the world of contemporary architecture and design, Philippe Starck has created everything from hotel interiors and luxury yachts to toothbrushes and teakettles. Yet for every project in his diverse portfolio, Starck has maintained an instantly recognizable signature style: a look that is dynamic, sleek, fluid and witty.

The son of an aircraft engineer, Starck studied interior design at the École Nissim de Camondo in Paris. He started his design career in the 1970s decorating nightclubs in the city, and his reputation for spirited and original interiors earned him a commission in 1983 from French president François Mitterrand to design the private apartments of the Élysée Palace. Starck made his name internationally in 1988 with his design for the interiors of the Royalton Hotel in New York, a strikingly novel environment featuring jewel-toned carpeting and upholstery and furnishings with organically shaped cast-aluminum frames. He followed that up in 1990 with an equally impressive redesign of the Paramount Hotel in Manhattan, a project that featured over-scaled furniture as well as headboards that mimicked Old Masters paintings.

Like their designer, furniture pieces by Starck seem to enjoy attention. Designs such as the wedge-shaped J Series club chair; the sweeping molded-mahogany Costes chair; the provocative Ara table lamp; or the sinuous WW stool never fail to raise eyebrows. Other Starck pieces make winking postmodern references to historical designs. His polycarbonate Louis Ghost armchair puts a new twist on Louis XVI furniture; his Out-In chair offers a futuristic take on the classic English high-back chair. But for all his flair, Starck maintains a populist vision of design. While one of his limited-edition Prince de Fribourg et Treyer armchairs might be priced at $7,000, a plastic Starck chair for the Italian firm Kartell is available for around $250. As you will see on 1stDibs, Philippe Starck’s furniture makes a bold statement — and it can add a welcome bit of humor to even the most traditional decor.