As a design style, globe lighting has been around for decades and it continues to be a popular choice for modern or transitional homes. If you’re in the market for a new table lamp to light your living room or family area consider a contemporary version with frosted glass and sleek metal finishes like satin nickel or satin gold – anodic bronze. These fixtures look great next to a couch, on the end of a chair-side or end table and work well as a reading lamp in a bedroom or office.
Many of the Lamp24 lamps at Netlighting offer a twisting switch that provides low, medium and high output (a three-way fixture). If you’re looking for a more traditional option choose a Tiffany style table lamp. These pieces have decorative stained glass shades that can become family heirlooms. Tiffany lamps are usually more formal than other varieties of table lamps and feature geometric patterns and bold colors.
The early days of the incandescent light bulb were a golden opportunity for designers to express themselves and create artistic, flowing forms of all kinds – from buildings to furniture to glassware. The art nouveau movement is a perfect example of how wildly evocative designs can be created when craftsmanship and innovation meet to form new styles.
As with all design movements, there were reactions against the backward-looking, derivative fashions of Victorian historicism. One of these was the Arts & Crafts movement which preferred handcrafts and simpler, organic forms that were more directly influenced by nature. This movement spawned a wide variety of craftsman-made objects including these table lamps. This hammered copper piece by the American designer Dirk Van Erp is an excellent example of an early 20th century Arts & Crafts table lamp.
A modern take on the classic globe silhouette is this model by Joe Colombo for Oluce. This contemporary table lamp has a transparent blown glass sphere that gives direct and diffused light and it is available in two sizes. This timeless piece is part of an extensive collection of table and floor lamps with clear or colored glass, polished aluminum and brass.
The other option is a slender, elegantly shaped table lamp that’s designed to sit at or close to eye level when you’re sitting in a chair. This type of fixture is more commonly found on a living room or family room table and can be used as a task lamp in a home office or as a reading lamp beside your bed.
For those looking for a more casual and eclectic approach to globe lighting, consider this midcentury-inspired style from the Castell 2 series by Blum. This model has a clean, minimalist shape with two bold globular shades that appear to float on the base. It’s finished in a modern matte black finish that coordinates with most decorating styles. It uses an energy efficient LED bulb so you can get the most out of your investment.
