The essentials: 20 of the best table lamps

The first patent for this lamp was filed in 1909 by the American Harrison D. McFaddin. Emeralite is also known as the banker's lamp, because its first recipient was a banker. The elitism of this profession is reflected in the choice of materials and finishes - a brass stand supporting a glass lampshade manufactured in Moravia - and in the classicist decorativism of its motifs, while the intensity of the emerald green lampshade when the light is on is still to this day an iconic element in the history of table lamps. In the decades that followed, many other versions of the Emeralite were made, with different colours and shapes of the lampshade. Emeralite was finally discontinued in the 1960s.  

First produced in the Bauhaus metal workshop, the table lamp known as Bauhaus Lamp embodies the spirit of renewal of the German movement thanks to the absence of any decorative accessory elements. The lamp is characterized by its visible working parts, the combination of clear geometric shapes and the spherical and opaque glass shade, which had been used until then only for industrial lights. A revolution that makes the essentiality of forms a new parameter of taste and an incentive to bring modernity in the domestic environment.

Among the very few students allowed inside the Bauhaus metal workshop, Marianne Brandt focused on designing objects that were capable of synthesizing essentiality and sculptural presence of shapes. More than any other project, the Kandem bedside table lamp, which Brandt designed with the help of Hin Bredendieck, makes the simplicity of its lines an example of good design, while the use of metal represents an innovation in an era that favoured the presence of glass lampshades. The Leipzig lamp manufacturer Kandem, with which Brandt had started a collaboration that involved the entire Bauhaus movement, sold more than 50,000 lampshades in a few years.

Designed in 1955 and marketed in 1957, Cocotte remains one of the most famous lamps by the French master of light Serge Mouille. Small, elegant and discrete, it is characterized by the game of balance between the feet, the inclination of the body and the rounded reflector. The lamp is now sold by Editions Serge Mouille and manufactured entirely in France.

With its reflector in the shape of a helmet, Juncker is one of the first lamps to introduce the possibility of combining diffused and direct light in a single object. By tilting the shade, the light can be adjusted and rotated in different directions.

This lamp was created for a competition launched by Artemide that involved the use of printed plastic materials. At first, it was called Brancusi, but it was later launched onto the market with the name E63. The smoothness of the surfaces and the contrast between the straight lines and the round curves emphasize its sculptural character. Since 2017, E63 has been redesigned by Tacchini, who has introduced a metal version that was already included among the original options provided for during the prototyping process.

Joe Colombo synthesizes in the Spider lamp - which is also available in floor and wall versions - a project that embraces the technical achievements of the time as well as the maximum freedom of use for the user. The project was inspired by the availability on the market of the new Silvered Cornalux, produced by Philips, which allowed a direct exposure of the light bulb, which is partially covered by chrome. And around the light bulb Colombo built a structure that reminded of the agility of the spider. The shade was made from a single sheet of printed and lacquered metal, and can be adjusted at will thanks to an innovative plastic joint that allows the rotation and height adjustment of the light source in a simple gesture. Spider won the Compasso d'Oro in 1967.

Eclisse is a shape-shifting lamp that interprets the very popular (in that decade) theme of space-age thanks to a design intuition that is as discrete as it is clever. The spherical lacquered steel lampshade is made of three interlocking half-spheres: two fixed and one inner shade that rotates: as the inner shade covers the bulb, the light is gradually dimmed, and can even be completely obscured, producing the effect of a total eclipse, and turning the lamp into a mysterious object with undefined contours. By mimicking the lunar cycle, Eclisse becomes a poetic object, without however affecting its functional potential: it is a perfect bedside lamp for its ability to adjust the direction of the light at will. Eclisse was awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967.

Another variation on the theme of modularity of light, the Ruspa lamp once again plays with the possibility of rotating the shade in order to partially reduce the light intensity. A further element of fascination is given by the geometric organization of its components, which prove to be complementary: the base, in the shape of a quarter of a sphere, is virtually completed by the shade, which corresponds to the other three quarters of the same sphere.

The bedside table lamp designed by Cini Boeri was inspired by poor and apparently boring materials, which were used to create a surprising game of joints. Rigid PVC pipes, for production and industrial purposes, enter the domestic space, showing that it is the wit and ironic touch of a project, and not necessarily the nobility of the materials, that make the difference. By moving the arm of the lamp, the light can be adjusted as desired, adapting to the needs of every reader.  

A PVC clad flexible metal tube makes the Hebi lamp - which, not surprisingly, means "snake" in Japanese - an unrivalled champion of flexibility. The metal lamp shade can also be rotated 360 degrees, allowing to adjust the lighting angle at will. Isao Hosoe, who graduated in aerospace engineering, designed an object that you can shape and transform as if it were a toy, and which represents an excellent typological innovation in table lamps. Over two hundred thousand examples of this very popular lamp were sold worldwide.

Among Vigo's great experiments in the field of light, we find Table Lamp, which maintains the minimalist style that characterizes her creations between the '60s and '70s, while playing with a decorative dialogue between the materials of the base and the body - chrome-plated metal and brass respectively. The adjustable head can be rotated upwards, transforming the lamp into an unusual spotlight.  

Lampadina synthesizes the naked simplicity of the bulb with the useful trick of using the base also to contain excess power cord. Without any accessory embellishment but, on the contrary, celebrating the beauty of the less ostentatious objects of everyday life, this small table lamp represents another of Achille Castiglioni's iconic inventions in the world of lighting, capable of solving the complex problem of having an extremely long cable, with a simple solution.

The name of this iconic lamp perfectly reflects the intentions of Ernesto Gismondi, owner of the Artemide manufacturer and creator of the lamp: an object that could satisfy "Tizio, Caio e Sempronio" (in English something like "Tom, Dick and Harry), by meeting the needs of a wide audience. Its functional characteristics explain its success: thanks to two counterweights, its lampshade and arms can be moved with little effort. Tizio is a little lamp that allows a great freedom of movement and to direct the light as desired. The simplicity of the shapes is combined with engineering complexity: the lamps is made of over a hundred components.

Sottsass, who was a tireless traveler, with his Valigia lamp combined the typical shape of a suitcase with a moving lamp. The handle on the lampshade allows to move the lamp with little effort, satisfying the ever-changing desires of its owner. The light, completely shielded, transforms the surrounding space into a luminous island for working or reading. Ironic in form as in spirit, Valigia is a prelude to the freedom of expression to which Sottsass devoted himself during the Memphis years.  

Inspired by traditional arm lamps, Tolomeo is one of the greatest successes in the history of industrial design. A reinterpretation of the pantograph lamp, it replaces the springs of previous models such as the Anglepoise and Naska Loris with steel cables and joints that keep them in tension and give them a hi-tech touch. It was awarded a Compasso d'Oro in 1989 and in 2010 was one of the first lamps to be declared a "form trademark" by UAMI, the European Union's office in charge of trademark, design and model registration for the 27 EU countries, because of its iconic profile. During an interview, De Lucchi revealed that he cannot explain the success of his model, which remains the best-selling lamp of recent decades.

Block Lamp looks like a frozen lamp: it consists of a lightbulb encased within two pieces of transparent glass, which form a brick-sized block. The caged light bulb becomes the decorative protagonist of the work. When switched on, the lamp seems to give off a mystical aura thanks to the light source that seems to come from a block of ice.  

Without visible mechanisms and without a switch, Elica is the first lamp that can be switched on with a movement of the hand, inaugurating a new form of interaction, more spontaneous and poetic, between user and object. It is in fact the arm that, by rotating, causes the lamp to turn on and off. The proportions of the lamp with LED light source integrated deliberately refer to the golden ratio, so as to emphasize the sculptural purity of the relationship between the components. Elica was awarded a Compasso d'Oro in 2011.  

Piani is both a table lamp and a storage tray thanks to the appearance of its base. Its apparent simplicity is not the result of cold geometric interlocking shapes, but simply plays with the proportions of the two flat and parallel levels separated by a vertical pillar, which was an innovation in the world of table lamps.

Designer Andrea Anastasio revisited the table lamp in a decorative way, transforming the elements that are usually hidden into something to proudly boast. His lamp is interesting because it breaks expectations: two unexpected large glass beads and several layers of electrical wire that, although hanging on a hook or potentially about to unravel, seem destined to remain where they are.