$1,500 / item
Martine Bedin Super Memphis Milano Postmodern
By Memphis Group, Martine Bedin
Located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
With wheel and movable. Iconic one in Memphis Milano and 1980s Postmodern designs.
Stainless Steel
Martine Bedin 1st Edition Super Lamp, Memphis Milano, Postmodern, Italy, 1980s
By Martine Bedin, Memphis Group
Located in Vienna, AT
Early first edition postmodern Super lamp, designed by Martine Bedin in 1981 for Memphis Group.
Metal
Ettore Sottsas Tahiti Memphis Milano Postmodern
By Memphis Group, Ettore Sottsass
Located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Ettore Sottsass's Tahiti lamp. Materpiece of 1980s design.
Stainless Steel
Michele de Lucchi Oceanic Memphis Milano Postmodern
By Michele de Lucchi, Memphis Group
Located in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Michele de Lucchi's oceanic lamp. Materpiece of 1980s design.
Stainless Steel
1980s Postmodern Black and White Table Lamp
By Memphis Milano
Located in Brooklyn, NY
A stunning 1980s postmodern table lamp by Be Yang in the Memphis Milano style.
Metal
$380Sale Price|20% Off
Multidirectional Postmodern Snake Table Lamp Memphis Era
By Isao Hosoe
Located in San Diego, CA
Flexible and pivoting 1980s lamp multidirectional snake movable neck. White enameled shade rewired for USA use.
Metal
Postmodern Memphis-Style Angled Metal Table Lamp
Located in Chicago, IL
Well made and designed post modern table lamp. Three angled iron bars fixed to iron plate base. Powder coated grey metal finish. Double socket illumination. Sold sans shade.
Iron
Vintage Postmodern Memphis Wave Metal Lamps - a Pair
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
A fantastic pair of vintage Postmodern table lamps. The coveted Memphis style wave in a black metal.
Metal
1980's Postmodern Memphis era Table desk Lamp
By Ettore Sottsass
Located in San Diego, CA
Very cool enameled metal desk table lamp great condition circa 1980's a classic postmodern design with blue accents , nice and very clean working condition.
Metal
Postmodern IKEA Table Lamp, Metal & Plastic, Memphis Style, 1980s
By IKEA
Located in Hamburg, DE
Colored table lamp in Memphis style, made in Italy. Its postmodern design and color scheme are striking.
Metal
Postmodern Stone Table Lamp, Green, Memphis Style, 1980s, Europe
Located in Hamburg, DE
Postmodern Stone Table Lamp, 1980s, in Very Good conditions. Designed 1980 to 1989. European Plug (up to 250V).The wiring of this item may be original and might need replacement, if ...
Stone
Italian Postmodern Aldo Cibic Table Lamp, Memphis-Milano -1980s
By Aldo Cibic
Located in Renens, CH
Limited series table lamp designed by Aldo Cibic during the 1980s for the French lighting company Drimmer, as part of a series of lamps from the Memphis-Milano group. Materials: A...
Aluminum
80s Pop Art Desk Lamp in the Postmodern Memphis Style
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
80s Pop Art desk lamp in the postmodern Memphis Style 80s 90s Postmodern desk lamp that can be extended to different heights.
Metal
$1,420Sale Price|20% Off
Postmodern Torchiere Floor Lamp by Ron Rezek Memphis Era
By Ron Rezek
Located in San Diego, CA
Rare floor Torchiere lamp in brushed steel finish with brass accents and dimmer switch, circa 1980s by Ron Rezek incredible quality and great design very rare and hard-to-find piece ...
Brass, Steel
$1,077Sale Price|32% Off
Postmodern red black white uplighter floor lamp, Memphis style 1980s
Located in Zevenaar, NL
Incredible sculptural high postmodern uplighter metal floor lamp by Neukro-Menden.
Metal
Memphis Style Postmodern Color Blocked Plaster Table Lamp, 1980's
Located in Lambertville, NJ
Memphis style color blocked table lamp, circa 1980's. This sculptural modern form lamp features a yellow fluted column with accents of purple, pink, teal, and blue. Lamp shade includ...
Plaster
Murano Glass Table Lamp Shell Silhouette Postmodern Memphis Style Italy, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Murano Glass Table Lamp Shell Silhouette Postmodern Memphis Style Italy, 1980s This vintage Murano glass table lamp from the 1980s impresses with its playful postmodern Memphis desi...
Murano Glass
Postmodern Original Splendid Floor Lamp by Martine Bedin, Italy, 1980s
By Martine Bedin, Memphis Group
Located in Renens, CH
Original period (not a re-edition) Splendid floor lamp, designed and produced by Martine Bedin in 1981 for the Memphis Group, features a painted metal construction with a semi-spheri...
Metal
Set of 2 Red Vintage Table Lamps Postmodern Memphis Design Italy, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Set of 2 red vintage table lamps Postmodern Memphis design Italy, 1980s This extraordinary set of 2 minimalist table lamps comes from Italy around the 1980s.
Metal
Postmodern Memphis Style Floor Lamp, Burnished Metal and Blue Glass, Italy, 1980
By Sottsass Associati
Located in Berlin, DE
Postmodern Memphis style torchiere/ floor lamp, Italy c. 1980.
Metal
Rare XXL Desk Lamp In The Postmodern Popart Memphis Style of Haba, 90s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Rare XXL desk lamp in the postmodern popart Memphis style of Haba, 90s Very nice and rare postmodern desk lamp from Haba from the 80s, 90s.
Wood
$3,400Sale Price / set|20% Off
Postmodern Desk Lamps in the manner of Memphis Milano, Set of 2
Located in Niederdorfelden, Hessen
Elegant set of two extremely rare Postmodern metal Table Arc Lamps. Exceptional functionality: switching on/off via the tension of leaf spring and by pressing the sphere at the top.
Chrome, Metal
Postmodern Memphis Style Rhombus Glass Lamp Chandelier, Italy
By Memphis Group
Located in Vienna, AT
Cool 27.5" wide melted glass lamp from the late 1980s Italy Postmodern Memphis style ceiling light featuring an opal or satinized glass rhombus with orange melted glass tips.
Steel
Pair of Memphis-Style Postmodern Floor Lamps with Cobalt Blue Glass Pyramids
By Stilnovo
Located in Chicago, IL
Two postmodern 77" floor lamps having square black metal bases supporting four silver tubular columns, which are surmounted by square black metal uplight shades to mimic the shape of...
Enamel, Steel
Resin, Chrome and Fiberglass Floor Lamp Postmodern Memphis Style by Steve Zoller
By Steve Zoller
Located in Doornspijk, NL
American artist Steve Zoller is unique in his use of color, elemental shapes and flamboyant style. In 1993 he made this beautiful floor lamp together with a table lamp, a sconce and ...
Chrome
XXL POP Art Desk Lamp In The Postmodern Memphis Style of Haba 80s, 90s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
XXL POP Art desk lamp in the postmodern Memphis style of Haba 80s, 90s Very nice and rare postmodern desk lamp from Haba from the 80s, 90s.
Wood
Postmodern Memphis School Zen Floor Lamp by Gismondi for Artimede Made in Italy
By Ernesto Gismondi, Artimide
Located in New York, NY
Iconic Post - Modern, Memphis style halogen uplight floor lamp, designed by Ernesto Gismondi for Artimede, made in Italy circa 1980's. The lamp features two lights, a fixed lower sha...
Aluminum, Steel
1980s BE-YANG Memphis Style Postmodern Table / Desk Lamp in Black and Teal
Located in Philadelphia, PA
Listed for sale is a 1980s vintage BE YANG desk and table lamp in teal and black. The lamp was acquired from a Washington, D.C. area estate among other period-correct modern and post...
Steel
XL 80s Pop Art Desklamp In Postmodern Memphis Style, 80s, 90s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
XL 80s Pop Art Desklamp in Postmodern Memphis Style, 80s, 90s Very nice and rare postmodern desk lamp.
Metal
Rare postmodern Memphis Style Terrazzo "EON" Table light by IKEA, Sweden 1990s
By IKEA
Located in Kirchlengern, DE
Article: table light Producer: IKEA, Sweden Origin: Sweden Age: 1990s Original vintage table light in a unique vintage Memphis design. The object was designed and pr...
Glass, Pine
Postmodern Halogen Table Lamp Style of Robert Sonneman for George Kovacs
By Robert Sonneman
Located in Linkebeek, BE
Postmodern - Desk lamp - Memphis Designer Light Measures : 43x12cm H:38cm Materials : Glass - Metal Beautiful vintage postmodern halogen table lamp in the style of Robert Sonneman f...
Metal, Chrome
$956Sale Price / set|25% Off
Pair of French Postmodern Table Lamps by Robert Kostka Enameled Forest Green
By Robert Kostka
Located in San Diego, CA
Fantastic rare pair of enameled forest green Memphis era postmodern table lamps, by Robert Kostka excellent condition hard to find. screw top to put shades . freshly rewired to US st...
Metal
Postmodern Vintage Black White Table Lamp Shogun Mario Botta Artemide 1986 Italy
By Artemide, Mario Botta
Located in Vienna, AT
Postmodern Memphis Style vintage table lamp by Mario Bott in black and white color from plastic and metal circa 1986, Italy.
Metal
Iconic Postmodern Halogen Mack Floor Lamp by George Kovack for Sonneman c 1980s
By Sonneman Lighting, George Kovacs
Located in New York, NY
Quintessential 1980's Postmodern, Memphis School design floor lamp, in excellent, original, clean, and working condition, showing only light cosmetic wear, normal and consistent with...
Metal
Vintage Aluminum Ceiling Lamp Postmodern Memphis Style, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Vintage Aluminum Ceiling Lamp – 1980s Postmodern Memphis Style, Bubbly Style, Yellow Gold Striped Cable, Pop Art Interior, Retro Light Gift Bring a vibrant touch to your space with ...
Aluminum
Vintage Aluminum Ceiling Lamp Postmodern Memphis Style, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Vintage Aluminum Ceiling Lamp - 1980s Postmodern Memphis Style - Purple & Green, Striped Cable, Pop Art Interior, Retro Lighting, Zig Zag Accent your room with this eye-catching met...
Aluminum
Vintage Metal Ceiling Lamp Postmodern Memphis Style, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Vintage Metal Ceiling Lamp – 1980s Postmodern Memphis Style, Purple, Green, Silver, Striped Cable, Pop Art Interior, Retro Room Light Bring a vibrant touch to your space with this e...
Metal
Retro Metal Ceiling Lamp Postmodern Memphis Style, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Retro Metal Ceiling Lamp – 1980s Postmodern Memphis Style, Purple, Silver, Green, Striped Cable, Pop Art Interior, Vintage Lightning Bring a vibrant touch to your space with this ey...
Metal
Vintage Metal Table Lamp - Adjustable Desk Lamp, Italy, 1980s
Located in Montecalvoli, IT
Vintage metal table lamp - Adjustable desk lamp - Postmodern Memphis Style - Italy 1980s Now free shipping worldwide.
Metal
Post Modern Saturn Desk Lamp by Sonneman circa 1980's
By Sonneman Lighting
Located in New York, NY
Postmodern Memphis style desk / table lamp by Sonneman circa 1980's.
Marble, Metal
$1,144Sale Price|20% Off
Axel Chay Donut Table Lamp Blue Lacquered Steel Opaline Glass Sculptural Art
Located in Lisboa, PT
Rooted in postmodern and Memphis-style design, the lamp reflects a broader movement in contemporary collectible design, where functional objects are elevated into expressive and symb...
Brass, Steel
Unavailable|$1,500 / set
Pair of Mid-Century Modern Memphis Style Table Lamps Postmodern Glass / Chrome
By Memphis Group
Located in Miami, FL
These lamps have a very unique look, though vintage they have a very post modern, Memphis look. Made of glass / Lucite / chrome, these lamps will definitely make a statement. Wiring ...
Metal
Unavailable|$1,777 / item
1980s Memphis Milano Group Style Floor Lamp Uplighter Postmodern Vintage
By 1001 Lamps
Located in London, GB
Memphis Group inspired of floor lamp by 1001 Lamps in black coated matte paint with red stripes body and red lacquered cone shaped shades similar to Ettore Sottsass' Callimaco lamp. ...
Metal
Unique Mid-Century Postmodern Peter Shire Memphis Style Sculptural Tri-Pod Lamp
By Memphis Group
Located in Miami, FL
Unique lamp constructed mostly of aluminum with copper accents and some color glass balls on the spiraling cone top. Lamp uses a halogen bulb, so I would dated post 1970. Electrical ...
Aluminum, Copper
Martine Bedin Super Lamp Memphis Milano Italian Postmodern, Museum Provenance
By Martine Bedin, Memphis Group
Located in London, GB
Designed in 1981 by Martine Bedin for Memphis Milano. Fibreglass. Ceramic bulb holders and rubber tyres. Excellent provenance. Late 20th century piece. Purchased from a prol...
Ceramic, Fiberglass, Rubber
Postmodern "Onda 1" Floor Lamp by Marco Zanusso Jr., prototype for Memphis, 1988
By Memphis Milano, Marco Zanuso Jr.
Located in București, B
The "Onda 1" floor lamp was designed by Marco Zanusso Jr. for Memphis Milano in 1988. This totemic lamp "Onda 1" and the bigger version "Onda 2" are prototypes. This piece is made fr...
Steel, Chrome
Unavailable|$995
Unique Postmodern Memphis Style Table Lamp Offered by La Porte
Located in Southampton, NY
This is a very interesting form table lamp. Postmodern era and reminiscent of the great creator of Memphis movement founder Ettore Sottsass among other works.
Metal
Tablelamp by Lungean & Pellmann Lighting Memphis Postmodern Design Germany 1980s
By Brilliant Leuchten AG
Located in Vienna, AT
Lungean & Pellmann were part of the so called Memphis collective giving inspiring impulse for extraordinary objects like this table lamp.
Metal
Unavailable|$709 / set
Set of two German postmodern, Memphis wall lamps in Lucite and metal
Located in MONTREUIL, FR
Set of two postmodern, Memphis wall lamps in Lucite and metal from Germany, c. 1980.
Metal
Sold|$4,200 / set
Memphis Postmodern Lamps, 1980
By Memphis Group
Located in Chicago, IL
Pair of Memphis Postmodern table lamps attributed to Ettore Sottsass, circa 1980s.
Steel
Postmodern Memphis Era Multidirectional Small Desk or Table Eye Lamp
By Memphis Group
Located in San Diego, CA
A very cool and unique multidirectional desk table lamp, the eyeball moves any way you want to point it, with a magnet that keeps the eyeball in place, gives a good strong light and ...
Plastic
Postmodern Italian Memphis Style Green Blue White Orange Murano Glass Lamps
By Memphis Group
Located in New York, NY
A 1980s unique pair of colorful Italian Murano glass lamps in the style of Ettore Sottsass for Memphis, constructed with tiers of highly vibrant and geometric colored blown Murano gl...
Brass
Postmodern Italian Memphis Design Green Blue White Red Black Murano Glass Lamps
By Memphis Group
Located in New York, NY
A 1980s unique pair of Italian colorful Murano glass lamps in the style of Ettore Sottsass for Memphis. Constructed with tiers of highly vibrant and geometrical colored blown Murano ...
Brass
Italian Postmodern Ettore Sottsass Memphis Group Attributed Torchere Floor Lamp
By Memphis Group, Tony Duquette, Memphis Milano, Ettore Sottsass
Located in Houston, TX
Italian Postmodern Ettore Sottsass Memphis Group attributed Torchere floor lamp.
Stainless Steel
Postmodern Memphis Era Neon Tube Lamp by Aaron Neon, 1980s
By Memphis Milano, Ettore Sottsass
Located in Miami, FL
Postmodern Memphis Milano style desk or table lamp with two blue and red neon tubes and a white top lamp housing.
Glass, Plastic, Wood
Postmodern Memphis Style Table Lamp by Brilliant Leuchten, Germany, 1980s
By Brilliant Leuchten AG, Memphis Milano
Located in Lyon, FR
Beautiful and very elegant postmodernist table lamp by Brilliant Leuchten, made in Germany in the 1980s, in the style of Memphis Milano. Adjustable and with two light positions. Dime...
Metal
Postmodern Lamp in Ceramic, style of Memphis Milano or Olivier Villatte, 1980s.
By Memphis Milano, Ettore Sottsass
Located in Lille, FR
Postmodern Lamp in Ceramic, style of Memphis Milano or Olivier Villatte, 1980s.
Ceramic
Postmodern design was a short-lived movement that manifested itself chiefly in Italy and the United States in the early 1980s. The characteristics of vintage postmodern furniture and other postmodern objects and decor for the home included loud-patterned, usually plastic surfaces; strange proportions, vibrant colors and weird angles; and a vague-at-best relationship between form and function.
ORIGINS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
CHARACTERISTICS OF POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGN
POSTMODERN FURNITURE DESIGNERS TO KNOW
VINTAGE POSTMODERN FURNITURE ON 1STDIBS
Critics derided postmodern design as a grandstanding bid for attention and nothing of consequence. Decades later, the fact that postmodernism still has the power to provoke thoughts, along with other reactions, proves they were not entirely correct.
Postmodern design began as an architectural critique. Starting in the 1960s, a small cadre of mainly American architects began to argue that modernism, once high-minded and even noble in its goals, had become stale, stagnant and blandly corporate. Later, in Milan, a cohort of creators led by Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini — a onetime mentor to Sottsass and a key figure in the Italian Radical movement — brought the discussion to bear on design.
Sottsass, an industrial designer, philosopher and provocateur, gathered a core group of young designers into a collective in 1980 they called Memphis. Members of the Memphis Group, which would come to include Martine Bedin, Michael Graves, Marco Zanini, Shiro Kuramata, Michele de Lucchi and Matteo Thun, saw design as a means of communication, and they wanted it to shout. That it did: The first Memphis collection appeared in 1981 in Milan and broke all the modernist taboos, embracing irony, kitsch, wild ornamentation and bad taste.
Memphis works remain icons of postmodernism: the Sottsass Casablanca bookcase, with its leopard-print plastic veneer; de Lucchi’s First chair, which has been described as having the look of an electronics component; Martine Bedin’s Super lamp: a pull-toy puppy on a power-cord leash. Even though it preceded the Memphis Group’s formal launch, Sottsass’s iconic Ultrafragola mirror — in its conspicuously curved plastic shell with radical pops of pink neon — proves striking in any space and embodies many of the collective’s postmodern ideals.
After the initial Memphis show caused an uproar, the postmodern movement within furniture and interior design quickly took off in America. (Memphis fell out of fashion when the Reagan era gave way to cool 1990’s minimalism.) The architect Robert Venturi had by then already begun a series of plywood chairs for Knoll Inc., with beefy, exaggerated silhouettes of traditional styles such as Queen Anne and Chippendale. In 1982, the new firm Swid Powell enlisted a group of top American architects, including Frank Gehry, Richard Meier, Stanley Tigerman and Venturi to create postmodern tableware in silver, ceramic and glass.
On 1stDibs, the vintage postmodern furniture collection includes chairs, coffee tables, sofas, decorative objects, table lamps and more.
The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.
Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.
Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat.
Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.
As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.
There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation.
With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.
The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.