Embellishment > Ornamental Lamps

A lamp is arguably the single most purposeful accent piece in a room, as it provides both function and fashion. Adequate lighting is not only essential to complete day-to-day tasks; it can also enhance a room’s mood—lights can be dimmed for relaxation or brightened while reading. “Lamps are like a pragmatic sculpture,” says Ann Henderson of Ann Henderson Interiors in Keene.

“Lamps can reiterate or suggest a style in a room, or can serve as decorative focal points,” Henderson continues. “I love to see a funky pair of lamps flanking a sofa— something that may echo a thread of accent color in the room or a twist on texture or reflection or a decorative object that evokes a certain mood in the room.”

Carolyn Anderson, of Carolyn Anderson Interior Design in Durham, adds that lamps can also be an effective and less expensive way to freshen up a room. “You can change the feeling of a room more easily with new lamps than replacing other pieces,” she says.

If you’re looking for an even more cost-effective way to change your room’s design, Anderson suggests replacing a lampshade.

Before you buy a new lamp or lampshade though, Anderson recommends ensuring that the lamp is the right size to do its job (for example, if you’re looking for a reading lamp, be sure it sits high enough on a table).

If you’re buying a new shade, be positive that it fits your lamp. For example, take care that the shade is “not too low-hanging for decorative lamps, not too square for large round or vase-like lamps, and not too tiny for tall thin lamps,” Henderson advises.

So whether you’re just looking for some extra light until spring comes or are hoping to renew a room’s design, the right lamp will make the space glow.

Philip Jacobs calls his table lamps “future family heirlooms” because they are built to last. The style shown here is available in both medium (twenty-five inch) and large (thirty inch), in brushed-brass or nickel-plated finish, and in all nine surface colors shown on the Earth & Fire Studio Gallery’s Web site (www.earthandfirestudio.net).

David Little’s love of the environment is evident with his pine needle and cone lamp. Each needle cluster is fabricated from small diameter steel rods to capture the random organic design. The hand-cast bronze cones accentuate the natural feeling of the piece by contrasting color and texture and creating the look of a pine branch. The simple linen shade helps keep the eye on the details of the lamp. Little’s work can be found at the Winnepesaukee Forge in Meredith.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br>

Jacqueline Hickey’s lantern can add Asian influence to any room’s décor. This piece is hand-built from clay slabs, which Hickey cut, textured, assembled and glazed. The roof may bring to mind a pagoda-style temple; however, the lantern is Hickey’s interpretation of multiple architectural styles. Available at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in North Conway.

A joint effort by two Meredith artists helped fashion this exquisite floor lamp, topped with a simple hand-made paper shade. The wrought-iron components showcase the skills of David Little, at Winnepesaukee Forge, and the cherry wood and flame-painted copper elements show Steve Hayden’s. The artists share a showroom at Winnepesaukee Forge, and encourage special orders in forged iron, wood, copper and other materials.

Julia Brandis’s stained-glass lamps are all limited edition and made from her original design. “My designs are not confined to traditional geometric shapes,” she says. That makes this lamp—with its bronze metal finish—a beautiful twist on the time-honored Tiffany style. Available at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in North Conway.

All of Glen MacInnis’s ceramic lamps are thrown and glazed using a batik technique. What makes this lamp truly chic is MacInnis’s most popular glaze, Twilight, and Joe Godek’s (of Chippaway Art Glass) white opalescent and blue-violet stained-glass shade, hand-leaded using the Tiffany method of construction.

Philip Jacobs’s tube lamp stands twenty-eight-inches tall, is made from stainless steel and blown glass, and adds pizzazz to any room. See earthandfirestudio.net for more information.

(Top photo)
Potter Lorraine Dilmore’s stoneware base has a teal glaze, with a design she created by running a metal comb on the vessel. Nancy Benjamin’s dragonflies (Shades of Excellence) are reversepainted in permanent watercolors on the inside of the shade, allowing the image to come to life when the light is turned on. She also embossed the dragonflies on the shade, so the image can be enjoyed when the lamp is off.

(Bottom photo)
Peter Bloch’s wooden lamp is one-of-a-kind, using three types of wood from all over the globe. He constructed the shade from local spalted aspen, the base from camphorwood burl from the South Pacific, and the finial and side disk at the bottom from Honduras mahogany. Remarkably, the shade is about one-tenth-inch thick, which allows the wood to be translucent, pliable and durable.