Swing Arm Desk Lamp
Vintage 1970s German Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1980s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1940s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Vintage 1970s Slovenian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Aluminum, Iron
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1950s American Table Lamps
Milk Glass
Vintage 1960s American Machine Age Table Lamps
Steel
Mid-20th Century American Bauhaus Table Lamps
Steel
Vintage 1940s American Machine Age Table Lamps
Brass, Metal
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Steel, Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Steel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Steel, Chrome
20th Century Table Lamps
Metal
20th Century Space Age Table Lamps
Metal
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Chrome
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Iron
20th Century Post-Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Art Deco Table Lamps
Marble, Chrome
Vintage 1970s German Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
Metal
Vintage 1970s Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Vintage 1970s American Modern Table Lamps
Steel, Chrome
20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Vintage 1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Brass, Chrome
Vintage 1950s American Table Lamps
Vintage 1970s Slovenian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1970s American Table Lamps
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1960s American Table Lamps
Steel, Aluminum, Brass
Vintage 1960s Italian Table Lamps
Metal
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome, Aluminum
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Vintage 1970s Argentine Table Lamps
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century Finnish Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass, Chrome, Metal
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Chrome
Vintage 1940s American Art Deco Table Lamps
Brass, Metal
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Enamel
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Magnets, Metal, Steel
Vintage 1970s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1970s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Mid-20th Century American Machine Age Table Lamps
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Chrome
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Vintage 1950s Italian Table Lamps
Brass
20th Century American Industrial Table Lamps
Steel, Iron
20th Century American Art Deco Table Lamps
Brass, Enamel
Vintage 1950s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Nickel
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Brass
Late 20th Century Victorian Table Lamps
Brass
Vintage 1960s American Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
Metal, Chrome
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Swing Arm Desk Lamp For Sale on 1stDibs
How Much is a Swing Arm Desk Lamp?
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
This Paavo Tynell Chandelier Is a Radiant Bouquet
The alluring pendant light exemplifies the designer’s winsome mid-career work.
Ettore Sottsass Captures a Shooting Star in This Rare 1970s Floor Lamp
Before founding the Memphis Group, Sottsass bent the rules of lighting design with the wonderfully wavy Cometa.
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.