Lucite Lamp Ribbon
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Nickel
Antique 19th Century Italian Table Lamps
Wood, Lucite
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Stainless Steel
Mid-20th Century French Table Lamps
Brass, Steel
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Early 20th Century French Folk Art Table Lamps
Brass
People Also Browsed
21st Century and Contemporary Swedish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Textile
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Antique 19th Century Spanish Table Lamps
Ceramic
Vintage 1970s Swedish Scandinavian Modern Table Lamps
Stoneware
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Antique 19th Century German Figurative Sculptures
Wood
Vintage 1980s European Art Deco Table Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Brutalist End Tables
Aluminum, Brass
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1930s Italian Table Lamps
Nickel
Vintage 1950s British Chippendale Side Chairs
Upholstery, Mahogany
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Steel
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Gold Leaf
Recent Sales
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Lucite
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Lucite
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
Late 20th Century North American Table Lamps
Lucite, Plaster
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Acrylic, Teak
Vintage 1960s Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass
Mid-20th Century French Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps
Brass, Metallic Thread
Vintage 1970s Italian Table Lamps
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Ceramic, Linen, Lucite
Vintage 1950s Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Glass
20th Century Moroccan Moorish Table Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass
Vintage 1950s Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Glass, Lucite
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Murano Glass
Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Gold Leaf
Vintage 1970s Floor Lamps
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Lucite
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
21st Century and Contemporary Table Lamps
Lucite, Ceramic
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Nickel
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Murano Glass, Lucite
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Lucite
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Brass
20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Nickel, Brass
Mid-20th Century Italian Hollywood Regency Table Lamps
Bronze
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Lucite
Mid-20th Century Italian Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
Vintage 1960s American Chandeliers and Pendants
Lucite
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
Vintage 1960s Italian Table Lamps
Vintage 1960s American Chandeliers and Pendants
Lucite, Plastic
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Lucite
Vintage 1970s Unknown Chandeliers and Pendants
Brass
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Nickel
Materials: plastic Furniture
Arguably the world’s most ubiquitous man-made material, plastic has impacted nearly every industry. In contemporary spaces, new and vintage plastic furniture is quite popular and its use pairs well with a range of design styles.
From the Italian lighting artisans at Fontana Arte to venturesome Scandinavian modernists such as Verner Panton, who created groundbreaking interiors as much as he did seating — see his revolutionary Panton chair — to contemporary multidisciplinary artists like Faye Toogood, furniture designers have been pushing the boundaries of plastic forever.
When The Graduate's Mr. McGuire proclaimed, “There’s a great future in plastics,” it was more than a laugh line. The iconic quote is an allusion both to society’s reliance on and its love affair with plastic. Before the material became an integral part of our lives — used in everything from clothing to storage to beauty and beyond — people relied on earthly elements for manufacturing, a process as time-consuming as it was costly.
Soon after American inventor John Wesley Hyatt created celluloid, which could mimic luxury products like tortoiseshell and ivory, production hit fever pitch, and the floodgates opened for others to explore plastic’s full potential. The material altered the history of design — mid-century modern legends Charles and Ray Eames, Joe Colombo and Eero Saarinen regularly experimented with plastics in the development of tables and chairs, and today plastic furnishings and decorative objects are seen as often indoors as they are outside.
Find vintage plastic lounge chairs, outdoor furniture, lighting and more on 1stDibs.
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.
Read More
You Don’t Need a Fictional Fairy to Get This Real Pinocchio Lamp
Warm chalet style meets cool Bauhaus functionality in Pietro Cascella’s cleverly carved creation.
Why Is Italy Such a Hotbed of Cool Design?
Patrizio Chiarparini of Brooklyn’s Duplex gallery sheds light on the lasting legacy of Italy’s postwar furniture boom.
With a High-Tech Flagship and Cool Collabs, Lladró Is Breaking the Mold for Porcelain Production
Thanks to its new leadership, the Spanish maker of figurines, busts and lighting is on a mission to update the art of porcelain for the 21st century.
Christopher Tennant’s Lamps and Dioramas Evoke Sunny Days and Seaside Locales
The former magazine editor blends elements of the Far East and America’s eastern shores, bringing wit and delight to his handmade, upcycled designs.
Paavo Tynell’s Snowflake Chandelier Warms Up Any Room
This circa 1950 piece by the legendary Finnish lighting designer spent the past several decades in a family's home in Michigan.
NASA Parachutes Inspired Lighting Designer Bec Brittain’s New Collection
In "Paraciphers," now on view at Emma Scully Gallery in New York, Brittain introduces works that were more than a decade in the making.
This Handsome Leather Pendant Light Is Crafted Using Saddle-Making Techniques
The Doma by L’Aviva Home nods to Colombia’s equestrian heritage.
Celebrate Spring Year-Round with This Lush Murano-Glass Chandelier
Hand-blown glass makes the Italian fixture glow like dew-covered leaves in the sun.