Lamps aren’t just for providing light – they’re sculptural objects, a chance to make a statement. An unusual designer table lamp can be the centrepiece of your room, a talking point. It can complement to your interior design theme or be a splendidly clashing contrast to it. Here are eight of our favourite quirky lamps...but which is yours?
1) Anetta table lamp in stone
If you’re after a real show-stopper – something that people just can’t ignore when they walk into the room, then the Anetta will do the trick… It's a ceramic artichoke, taken to the next dimension: ornate, decorative, witty and glorious. Perfect in a room that’s packed with vintage objets d'art and oddities – or use it as a very striking contrast in a scheme that’s otherwise clean and minimalist.
2) Crescent table lamin white marble
The Crescent has been a Pooky favourite for donkey’s years now – it’s a slightly quirky experiment that just worked. Depending on how you look at it, it could be a piece of modernist sculpture or an unusual tribute to classical architecture. It consists of a series of inverted crescents of marble, set in a brass base. The Crescent is really very eye-catching, expensive-looking and guaranteed to be a talking point. There’s also a lovely black version.
3) Whinny table lamp in green resin
Table lamps are remarkable household objects because they’re where practical usefulness and expressive sculpture can meet. The Whinny is a case in point: modelled on the highly stylised horse head motifs from ancient Mesopotamia, we have cast this lamp in beautiful translucent resin. Whether in green (above) or amber (top) It looks particularly wonderful near a window, with the light shining through it in the daytime, while it glows beautifully at night.
4) Oriel table lamp in antique brass
This is another, very different piece of sculpture that happens to double up as a table lamp. The Oriel is an elegant, perfectly balanced circle of brass, set on a rectangular stepped base. It’s a statement piece, but in an effortless, barely-there kind of way… an understatement piece?
5) Pat table lamp in cosmo pink
Right at the opposite end of the showy-off scale to the Oriel is the Pat: an outrageously swirly piece of carved wood in an in-yer-face pink. Not for the faint-hearted, perhaps, but perfect for boudoirs and for adding a dash of decadence to your den…
6) Duccio table lamp in black and natural seagrass
In this case the design is simple – a few solid black stripes – but it’s the unusual material that makes the Duccio light stand out: warm, woven seagrass. Use this lamp to add texture to a room – in interior design, texture is how something ‘feels to the eye’, and the trick to an interesting scene is to layer different kinds of texture – smooth, rough, silky etc. You can start by pairing it with a contrastingly smooth shade, like this one in jet stripes card.
7) Wobster table lamp in orange lacquered wood
The Wobster is certainly one for the bold and the brave – perhaps especially in its very funky orange incarnation (red, turquoise and natural wood Wobsters are also available). Place it prominently in the sitting room, use it as a very unusual bedside light or pop it on a side table in the entrance hall to set the tone for your gloriously individual home.
8) Stucco table lamp in turquoise ceramic
Let’s end as we began - with an undisputed ceramic showstopper. The name ‘Stucco’ is a bit of an in-joke… we ‘stuck’ ceramic ‘leaves’ over the outside of this elegant shape. The design was a good year in the making – we agonised over the size of the leaves, their spacing, and their number...and the exact tonal colour. But the result is – in our opinion – a thrillingly original and unusual statement piece. This is a large version in turquoise – smaller Stuccos in stone and emerald are also available.
So that’s a selection of our more quirky and individual designer table lamps. Which ones float your boat – or are you more of a classic, understated sort of person? See more unusual table lamps here, and browse our full collection of table lamps for your perfect match here.
