Efra Carlo Moretti

Italian glassmaker Carlo Moretti elevated glassmaking to an avant-garde art form. He is known for his decorative vases, striking centerpieces and elegant table lamps. The bright, rich colors and sophisticated silhouettes of mid-century modernism that characterize his works brought high prestige to the Moretti name. 

Moretti was born in 1934 on Murano, a series of islands in the Venetian lagoon, a place famous for its glassmaking. Six years later, in 1940, his brother Giovanni Moretti was born. The older Moretti brother initially studied to become a lawyer, but he fell in love with the glassmaking tradition of his birthplace. 

In 1958, the two brothers opened the Carlo Moretti glassmaking company together in Murano. Carlo headed the company's creative side, but he was also a savvy entrepreneur. The Carlo Moretti company became known for its innovative techniques, creativity in design and refined style. 

Over the next 50 years, Moretti earned a name for himself as one of the Venetian glass masters. He was the recipient of the 1966 Internationalen Handwerksmesse Gold Medal, the 1966 Internationales Kunsthandwerk Award, the 1976 Macef Award and the 1984 Arango International Design Competition. His work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Kunstgewerbemuseum, Musée Ariana and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. 

When Moretti died in 2008, Giovanni took over the company. Giovanni sold the Carlo Moretti company in 2013 and passed away in 2014. The company continues to introduce new glassware collections in the characteristic style of its founder. It also operates a showroom called L’ISOLA in Venice.

On 1stDibs, find vintage Carlo Moretti decorative objects, serveware, lighting and more.

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.