Pair of Unusual Textured Glass Cylinder Lamps with Custom Shades
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of unusual textured glass cylinder lamps with custom shades, circa 1980. Rewired with custom black silk shades. The transparent top piece of the columns lets the light through t...
Metal
Pair of Unusual Textured Glass Cylinder Lamps with Custom Shades
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Pair of unusual textured glass cylinder lamps with custom shades, circa 1980. Rewired with custom black silk shades. The transparent top piece of the columns lets the light through t...
Metal
Black Floor Table Lamps Or Bed Side Tables Metal, Germany, circa 1965
By Staff Leuchten
Located in Vienna, AT
Black floor lights that will also work as bed side tables with lights, Germany circa 1965- sold as a pair Very rare and large tubular blackened steel side tables or floor lamps that...
Steel
$7,063
Lampe par Philippe Jean
By Philippe Jean
Located in SAINT-OUEN-SUR-SEINE, FR
Big lamp by Philippe Jean in lucite and stainless steel.
Stainless Steel
Gérard Haas "Timescapes, LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once, functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive, thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes, LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in d...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes: Led Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once--functional and avant garde, elegant and expressive--thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes: LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once--functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive--thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes: Led Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once--functional and avant garde, elegant and expressive--thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once--functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive--thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes, LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in d...
Metal
Gérard Haas "Timescapes LED Chronotope", Light Sculpture, France, circa 1970s
By Gérard Haas
Located in New York, NY
This series by Gérard Haas is many things at once, functional and Avant Garde, elegant and expressive, thanks to the artist's surprising use of reclaimed materials. Finding beauty in...
Metal
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.
Antique table lamps became a category of their own once electricity moved light off the wall and onto furniture. The form split quickly: task-driven designs like the Anglepoise on one side, decorative ceramic and glass on the other.
Styles to Know
Base material shapes the light as much as the shade does: ceramic and glass diffuse a softer glow, while brass and metal read more directional. Layer the look with a mid-century modern floor lamp for ambient light, or set a pair on a mid-century modern nightstand for a bedroom.
How to Choose the Right Vintage Table Lamp
Buying individually rather than as a pair allows more flexibility when mixing eras across a room. For those shopping by name rather than by shape, the history of the Anglepoise lamp is worth a read. Each piece comes from a vetted 1stDibs seller, with era, designer and condition detailed, and the 1stDibs Promise stands behind every purchase.
Designer Eva Menz wants the light to "evoke curiosity and a sense of wonder."
Working with resin, a tricky material, has created moments of failure — and enlightenment.
Commissioned for the lakeside villa of a Finnish industrialist, it illuminated visits with dignitaries.
Across New York, there’s no shortage of statement lighting on view.
The 1920s design is a thrilling combination of saturated colors, ancient motifs and modern aesthetics.
Designed by a giant of Swedish lighting, the large-scale fixtures bring major drama.
The alluring pendant light exemplifies the designer’s winsome mid-career work.
Before founding the Memphis Group, Sottsass bent the rules of lighting design with the wonderfully wavy Cometa.