Hans Kogl Palm Tree Floor Lamp

While little has been written about German furniture designer Hans Kögl, his work speaks for itself.

Kögl drew frequently on natural forms such as wheat sheafs, florentine flowers and wisteria in designing sculptural lighting fixtures, tables and various decorative objects. His better known work was manufactured in Germany and Italy during the 1970s and 1980s, although some pieces date back to the 1950s.

Kögl’s vintage gilt metal lamps and sophisticated table bases capture nature in a way that is beyond simple lifelike imitation — the handcrafted works’ copper and gold-plated leaves and other flora, free and elegant, demand a double-take to fully appreciate the designer’s profound attention to detail.

Some of Kögl’s 1970s-era textured palm tree floor lamps, which are playful and striking and bear the hallmarks of the Hollywood Regency style, stand over six feet tall. And when coupled with his unique glass-topped coffee tables, which also draw heavily on organic forms in their decorative gilt leaf bases, the fixtures can help bring the outdoors into a living room in a manner that feels simultaneously luxurious and provocative.

Collectors and enthusiasts of early 20th century furniture will find much appeal in Kögl’s sconces and chandeliers for Maison Jansen.

The first international decorating firm, Maison Jansen was founded in 1880 by Dutchman Jean-Henri Jansen. The firm was extraordinarily versatile — its artisans created cane-backed Rococo dining chairs as often as they were making Louis XV–style tables for their diverse range of clients. Kögl worked as a designer for Maison Jansen in its later years.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of vintage Hans Kögl lighting, tables and mirrors.

The modern floor lamp is an evolution of torchères — tall floor candelabras that originated in France as a revolutionary development in lighting homes toward the end of the 17th century. Owing to the advent of electricity and the introduction of new materials as a part of lighting design, floor lamps have taken on new forms and configurations over the years. 

In the early 1920s, Art Deco lighting artisans worked with dark woods and modern metals, introducing unique designs that still inspire the look of modern floor lamps developed by contemporary firms such as Luxxu. 

Popular mid-century floor lamps include everything from the enchanting fixtures by the Italian lighting artisans at Stilnovo to the distinctly functional Grasshopper floor lamp created by Scandinavian design pioneer Greta Magnusson-Grossman to the Paracarro floor lamp by the Venetian master glass workers at Mazzega. Among the more celebrated names in mid-century lighting design are Milanese innovators Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, who, along with their eldest brother, Livio, worked for their own firm as architects and designers. While Livio departed the practice in 1952, Achille and Pier Giacomo would go on to design the Arco floor lamp, the Toio floor lamp and more for legendary lighting brands such as FLOS. 

Today’s upscale interiors frequently integrate the otherworldly custom lighting solutions created by a wealth of contemporary firms and designers such as Spain’s Masquespacio, whose Wink floor lamps integrate gold as well as fabric fringes. 

Visual artists and industrial designers have a penchant for floor lamps, possibly because they’re so often a clever marriage of design and the functions of lighting. A good floor lamp can change the mood of any room while adding a touch of elegance to your entire space. Find yours now on 1stDibs.