Puffy Daisy

Eny Lee Parker is a contemporary New York City designer who makes forward-thinking creations via a thoughtful and traditional process. All of her floor lamps, stools, wall mirrors and other furniture and decorative items are made by hand, typically out of clay. Her work is often described as playful and organic, but Parker refuses to be relegated to just one style.

Parker was born in São Paulo. In high school, her mother recognized her knack for drawing and pushed her to pursue art. Parker moved to Georgia and studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she felt pulled toward interior design, launching her own design business while still in college.

Today, she works out of her Brooklyn studio. Among her most popular designs is the Oo lamp, a hybrid floor/table lamp with a double-pronged and curving shape. “The shape of the Oo lamp is supposed to resemble the curvature of our bodies," she explained to Introspective magazine, "while the texture is similar to the imperfections of our skin.”

Like many of Parker's creations, the Oo lamp is made from clay. However, she is constantly exploring new materials and mediums to continue growing as a designer, often using glass and textiles in her work.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Parker also undertook her first foray into rugs. The resulting floor coverings represent a collaboration between Parker and her best friend, print designer Spencer Malinski, with whom she was living at the time.

In 2022, Parker announced a collaboration with lighting brand Mitzi on a line of affordable lighting fixtures for the average consumer. "I loved the idea of designing something that has more of a democratic price point and is more accessible to the mass market," she told Architectural Digest. From avid collectors to everyday consumers looking to upgrade their home interiors, there are Eny Lee Parker designs for everyone.

On 1stDibs, find Eny Lee Parker lighting, seating, tables and more.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

From the kitchen to the bedroom and everywhere in between, there is one major part of home decor that you definitely want to master: lighting. It’s no longer merely practical — carefully selected wall lights and sconces can do wonders in establishing mood and highlighting your distinctive personality.

We’re a long way from the candelabra-inspired chandeliers of the medieval era. Lighting designers have been creating and reinventing lighting solutions for eons. Because of the advancements crafted by these venturesome makers, we now have the opportunity to bring unique, customizable lighting solutions into our homes. It’s never been easier to create dramatic bedrooms, cozy kitchen areas and cheerful bars than it is today. Think of an elegant wall sconce as functional as well as a work of art, adding both light and style to your hallways, whimsical kids’ rooms and elsewhere.

When choosing a lighting solution, first determine what your needs are: Will you opt for a moody or a bright feel? The room that will serve as your home office will need adequate lighting — think “the brighter, the better” for this particular setting. For the bedroom, bedside wall lamps with warm-temperature bulbs could be the way to go to induce a sense of calm or intimacy. Try to match the style of the wall light or sconce that you’re installing to the overall design scheme of your room. It’s never “just a light.” You should approach the lighting of a room with a mindset that is one part practical and one part aesthetics-driven.

Let 1stDibs help you set the mood with the right wall lights and sconces for your home. Our collection includes every kind of fixture, from sculptural works by Austrian craftsman J.T. Kalmar to chic industrial-style wall sconces, from adjustable painted aluminum wall lamps designed by Artemide to a wide variety of minimalist mid-century modern masterpieces.