Orrefors 1477

Many museums, churches and headquarters of large companies house the work of Scandinavian modernist lighting designer Carl Fagerlund. Initially an instructor of illustration, Fagerlund shifted into the world of lighting design during the 1940s with the advantage of having an artist’s eye, and today his vintage table lamps, chandeliers, wall lights and other fixtures enrich dwellings and continue to captivate collectors all over the world.  

During the early 1940s, Fagerlund taught burgeoning artists to draw at Solbacka läroverk, a private boarding school in Sweden that was based on the successful institutions of its type in the United Kingdom. Shortly thereafter, he took a job designing provocative sconces and other wall fixtures of brass and textured glass elements for a manufacturing company in Stockholm called ASEA (Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget, or General Swedish Electrical Limited Company). 

Fagerlund is best known, however, for the work he did at Orrefors Glassworks, a legendary glassworks in Småland that garnered worldwide acclaim for its wares after introducing a range of decorative objects and art glass at the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925 — the huge design fair that brought global attention to Art Deco. Fagerlund joined Orrefors in 1946 and designed richly intricate mid-century modernist pendants, flush mount lighting, a range of works with Murano glass and other fixtures for more than three decades. 

Fagerlund’s designs can be found in Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, a museum “castle” that was once the private residence of royalty, the Swedish Embassy in Tokyo and the head office for General Motors, U.S.A. in Detroit, Michigan. 

Find vintage Carl Fagerlund flush mount lighting, pendants, serveware and other items on 1stDibs.

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.