17 Table Lamps To Light Up Your Life (And Home!)
You can take your incredible architecture, exquisite sofa, original artwork and lush floor rug but it all means nothing, NOTHING without good lighting. There is no colour, texture or atmosphere without light in our homes, light is the most essential element in an interior. And guess what? Beautiful lighting is so easy and achievable. You don’t need to sit in a dull room full of downlights for one minute longer!
One of the quickest and easiest ways to amp up the style and atmosphere at home is with a few fab table lamps. Here, our interiors columnist Lauren Li shares her top picks!
Natural light is always going to make a space look beautiful, but we can’t all have gorgeous big windows and actually, some spaces are just perfect when they are full of shade and mood – and lamp lighting is a great way to achieve that.
I’m afraid that downlights are absolutely not the way to light your home; let me explain. If there are a grid of downlights on the ceiling, they light up the floor and not the room. A light source from above casts a shadow over our heads and that’s not a flattering light. So rather than lights from overhead, light from the side is a much better solution. It also creates a textured lighting effect in a room, which means atmosphere and all the feels.
Living Room
The living area is a space for many activities; reading, entertaining, watching TV or just hanging out, so we need different types of lights to suit.
The main types of lighting are: task, ambient and accent light. We need task lighting for reading, ambient (or general) light for creating atmosphere and accent light to highlight a gorgeous artwork on the wall. As well as providing light in the space, lighting adds a beautiful decorative element and should look beautiful when on or off.
1. Cesta lamp, Sant & Cole
This lamp gives off the most gorgeous warm glow from its organic shaped glass globe, encased by a handmade cherry wood frame. It’s a perfect, timeless lamp!
Available from Ajar.
2. Kizu table lamp, New Works
This special lamp combines solid marble with glass in a way that they seem to defy gravity!
Available from District.
3. Honey lamp, Coco Flip
The perfect compact lamp to fit on a shelf, designed and made locally!
Available from Coco Flip.
4. Semi Circle lamp, HK Living
This eye-catching lamp has a ribbed marble base and unusual semi-circle shade and snuggles in brilliantly on a narrow shelf.
Available from House of Orange.
5. Column lamp, Menu
If you need a light in the middle of an open-plan space, but don’t have access to a powerpoint, then cordless lamps are the perfect solution. The column lamp by Menu is chargeable!
Available from The Apartment by sisalla.
6. Buds 2 table lamp, Foscarini
The rounded silhouette of this gorgeous lamp paired with its warm glow adds a beautiful softness to any space!
Available from Space Furniture.
7. Theia lamp, Marset
The Theia lamp is absolutely irresistible to play with. The two half-spheres swivel on an axis, which allows you to point it towards you for use as a reading lamp, or towards an object or a wall, creating a subtle, indirect light that immediately warms the atmosphere.
Available from Ajar.
Entry
A gorgeous lamp at the entry gives a stylish first impression when friends come over. It says, ‘you’re a real adult now’. A light here needs to be functional so that you can find the important daily stuff that gets stored here, and it also needs to look fab. A sculptural light here works really well.
8. Atollo lamp, Euroluce
If timeless style is something you want to exude in your entryway, then this is it! The Atollo looks equally stunning placed on an fine French Louis XV commode as it does on a contemporary design. The reduced geometric shapes are perfection.
9. Prometheus IV table lamp, Christopher Boots
A light in the entry like this Christopher Boots stunner is guaranteed to make you smile every. single. time you come through that front door. Another stunning made-in-Melbourne design, too!
Available from Christopher Boots.
10. Attalos table lamp, Marz Designs
This stunningly restrained light with classical architectural lines is made with a solid brass base in Australia by Marz Designs.
Available from Marz Designs.
11. Helios Table Light, Workstead
A gorgeous brass and marble lamp that is the perfect combination on a sculptural form and functional light.
Available from In Good Company.
Bedroom
If you read in bed, then you’ll know how difficult it is to find the prefect reading lamp. It should direct the light with a narrow beam, so that it doesn’t affect your partner, yet shouldn’t look like a weird desk lamp. It needs to be dimmable and adjustable.
12. Phare lamp, Menu
The Phare lamp is a simple yet stunning lamp with a small footprint, perfect for a petite bedside table.
Available from the Apartment by sisalla.
13 & 18. Flowerpot, &tradition
The Flowerpot has the right amount of whimsy and design cred. It provides soft, indirect light and comes in gorgeous colours.
Available from Great Dane.
14. Don Giovanni, India Mahdavi
A gorgeously feminine design that will be the centrepiece of your bedroom – you’ll feel happy every time you see it!
Available from ALM Studio.
15. Chipperfield lamp, Eurolace
This is the perfect bedside lamp, it suits the bedtime reader and it also looks stunning. The light can be dimmed and directional so it doesn’t disturb your partner.
Available from Eurolace.
16. AJ Table lamp, Louis Poulsen
A sleek twist on a classic shape, the AJ Table lamp was originally designed in 1960 for the SAS Royal Hotel Copenhagen. Emitting downward directional light, the angle of the shade can be adjusted to optimise light distribution. Win win!
Available from Cult.
17. Moni lamp, Articolo
The lamp that started it all for Melbourne lighting studio Articolo, the Moni table lamp shape is both modern and timeless!
Available from Articolo.
This article also appears in The Designfiles, Lauren is the interior design contributor.