W A S Benson, An Arts & Crafts Copper and Brass Telescopic Standard Oil Lamp

Known for his iconic metalwork and innovative lighting designs, English architect and designer W.A.S. Benson was one of the most influential Arts and Crafts creators of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. 

Born William Arthur Smith Benson in 1854, he studied classics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. Following graduation, he decided to pursue his interests in art and engineering by becoming an architect. After moving to London for an architecture apprenticeship, Benson met Pre-Raphaelite painter Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, who roused his creativity. With encouragement from Arts and Crafts movement pioneer William Morris, plus the metalwork expertise he had learned from his uncle, Benson opened a workshop in London’s Fulham neighborhood in 1880.

Towards the end of the 1880s, Benson closely studied emerging technologies in metalwork production, becoming a master in casting, turning, folding and riveting. With these skills, he added an artistic element to many of his designs, such as light fittings, plant stands, fireplace accessories and serving pieces. He displayed these in his first showroom opened on London’s Bond Street in 1887. That year, Benson became a founding member of the Art Workers’ Guild and campaigned with the National Exhibition of the Arts to have crafts presented as an art form.

By the turn of the 20th century when electricity was replacing gas and oil, Benson was particularly acclaimed for his domestic lighting designs, including table lamps, floor lamps, chandeliers and other decorative lighting. Demands for mass production of his designs grew, and Benson patented his metalwork and lighting to protect them from mediocre copies. 

In 1893, Benson published Elements of Handicraft and Design. Three years later, upon Morris’s death, he purchased Morris and Co. with a colleague. He directed the furniture company until his retirement in 1917.

Before his death in 1924, Benson exhibited several times at the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society and contributed to famous design projects such as London’s Savoy Hotel. His metalwork and lighting pieces attracted critical attention from The Magazine of Art, The Studio: An Illustrated Magazine of Fine and Applied Art and German architect Hermann Muthesius in his book Das Englische Haus.

On 1stDibs, find a range of antique W.A.S. Benson lighting and serveware.