Togo Lamp

Multidisciplinary French designer and sculptor Jacques Jarrige has never met a material he didn't like. From wood coffee tables to bronze table lamps and lacquer stools, Jarrige is adept at working with a range of mediums. He has also been known to craft furniture and decor in aluminum and has released a line of wool carpets. According to Valerie Goodman, who represents the artist, Jarrige "has an ongoing dialogue with whatever material he selects."

Jarrige was born in Paris in 1962 and was raised in a family of scientists and art collectors. He grew up in the neighborhood of St. Germain, which is home to several art galleries. Jarrige was particularly enamored with the power and presence of the African sculptures on display in these galleries, and this early fascination led to his enrolling in architecture classes at the National School of Fine Arts in Paris. 

However, Jarrige found the program uninspiring and left school in the 1980s to work with his hands to create his own sculptures and other objects. Looking to the works of designers like Alexandre Noll and George Nakashima, Jarrige began to explore the interplay of art and design. Even though he has been quoted as saying "design bores me when it is decorative," his work has high visual appeal. Each piece is thoughtfully shaped by hand, which usually yields organic graceful curves that are pleasing to the eye and bring charm to any interior.

In the 1990s, Jarrige started showing his work in Europe and found an eager audience. During this time, he focused mainly on creating sculptural furniture and decorative objects. In 2010, Valerie Goodman became his representative, and he began showing at the Valerie Goodman Gallery in Manhattan. Jarrige subsequently shifted his focus — he began working in abstract mode and making large-scale sculptures. His work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Coté Paris and The World of Interiors.

In 2022, Jarrige exhibited at the Venice Biennale and secured a commission to design a piece for the renovated Pfizer Building in Brooklyn. Jarrige also installed a large hammered aluminum Christ sculpture at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York.

On 1stDibs, find Jacques Jarrige tables, lighting, decorative objects and more.

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.