Table, Floor, and Standing Lamps to the Trade

Table and floor lamps are a room's jewelry. There's no faster way to influence the character of a space than to bring in new decorative lighting. Our top vendors for table lamps are Hudson Valley Lighting, Currey, Uttermost, and Mitzi. Mitzi has a great selection of youthful, midcentury-inspired sculptural designs in metal and ceramic. All their pieces ship with white Belgian linen shades. Uttermost lighting is exceptionally affordable and diverse, frequently venturing outside design norms to offer fixtures imitative of nature. The Iver Branch accent lamp in antiqued silver and black marble or the Sanderson Metallic Charcoal Lamp with its deep ribbed texture and charcoal glaze are just two examples. Many feature acrylic bases or lucite bases.

Floor lamps, called torchieres when their shades open up toward the ceiling, can be works of sculpture that strongly indicate time and place. The metal concertina shape of Mr. Brown London's brass Torme Lamp transports us to mid-century Hollywood. Currey's Malayan Floor Lamp, made of rubberwood, carries us to even further corners of the globe. Weaver from Hudson Valley Lighting, with its woven frame and gold leaf details, provides the perfect degree of classic casual American comfort we know and love. 44" - 58" is an excellent height for a floor lamp meant to add a reading light next to a sofa or chair, while 80" is typical of a piece that commands attention. Specifying light at many different heights helps a room feel warm and function well for various purposes.

Adjustable desk lamps make work easy. Desk lamps are an excellent place for novel self-expression. By far, our favorite is the Equo Desk Lamp. Its counter-weight design allows feather-light adjustment. Its light head rotates 180 degrees, and a finger-touch dimmer allows variation in brightness. The compact Gloria Table Lighting from Nuevo Living is terrazzo and features an exposed bulb and built-in tray for paperclips or other small office supplies.

No matter what you specify, consider whether a piece is UL certified and what sort of bulbs it requires.