I’ve been musing lately on why task lighting seems to be so popular at the moment.

There seem to be two dominant trends – industrial design and LED.

Now obviously, all of us need good lighting when we’re working on something detailed and a light over a desk can be invaluable, but I wonder, is some of the current demand fuelled by the introduction of low voltage, eco friendly ambient lighting?

There was a time when you’d stick a 100W incandescent bulb into a ceiling light and you’d need sunglasses to find your way around the room.

Now, it seems to take forever for the new low voltage bulbs to warm up and even then, the light they emit seems somehow dull.

This could of course be my imagination, but I’m convinced there’s something in this.

From a table lamp retailer’s point of view, I wonder whether the new bulbs are forcing table lamps to become ornaments rather than functional light sources – the muzak of room lighting if you will.

I still love the warm glow from a fabulous table lamp in a corner but I do think the time may have come for us at The Original Table Lamp Company to begin supplying task lighting too.

I’d love to design our own range and to that end, will be meeting a local craftsman next week to see what we might come up with.

What do you think?

Image via Original BTC

Spotted these lovely contemporary glass lamps from Scandinavia – a hotbed of design talent, especially when it comes to using natural materials to produce simple, elegant products.

Caroline Olsson designed these Skog lamps as part of her final year project at design school and they have now been snapped up for manufacture by Norway’s Magnor Glassworks.

Designed to mimic trees (skog means forest in Norwegian), these table lamps are made from turned oak and mouth-blown coloured glass.

I love their elegant simplicity and the fact that each lamp is unique – I’d love to supply these in the UK!

Hat tip to contemporist for the original article.

The iconic Kaiser Idell lamps, one of the most renowned products of the Bauhaus movement, are now 80 years old and still going strong.

Produced under license by Republic of Fritz Hansen, these lamps are the archetypal form following function design for define Bauhaus design.

Originally designed by Christian Dell in 1931, the Kaiser Idell lamps are available as floor lamps, table lamps, pendants and wall lamps in various primary colours.

A timeless lamp if ever I saw one!

I’m pleased to announce that we’ve just taken delivery of a new batch of large wooden Himalayan honey pot lamps.

These lamps are sadly getting harder and harder to come by, especially in the smaller sizes, however these large table lamps are truly beautiful.

Although not strictly speaking in the Autumn Sale (as they’re new, there was no previous price!), all of our table lamps are going to go up in price by 10% on 1st November 2011, so now is a great time to get a bargain before Christmas.

As you can see, these table lamps are big – they’re all around 2 feet tall with the shade and will need a decently-sized table to show them off.

There are 6 of them in all and each is a unique individual and priced accordingly.

Hope you love them as much as we do!

P.S. For future reference, the Merlot in the pictures wasn’t very nice (but it was on offer!)…

If you’re anything like me, you’re looking forward to the onset of winter about as much as a trip to the proctologist.

The reduction in ambient light levels in the upper Northern hemisphere as we approach the winter solstice, always leads to an increase in cases of SAD (seasonal affective disorder).

Now you may think this is one of those “made up” afflictions, used as an excuse by shirkers and malingerers, but try telling Monty Don and the other 7-17% of the UK population affected, that it doesn’t exist!

What does this have to do with table lamps you may justifiably ask?

Well, Finnish design company Artek have created a bright white light table lamp specifically targeted at SAD sufferers.

This is a 72W certified bright light therapy lamp with a 4000k light temperature – there’s a dimmer too if you find it too bright!

Now it’s not the kind of lamp we usually sell here at The Original Table Lamp Company, but if there’s enough demand, I’d be more than happy to enquire about supplying this lamp to UK customers.

Let me know.

Now these table lamps are truly original.

Formed by cutting into the dried husks of gourds from Senegal, these striking lamps cast the most magical shadow patterns when lit but look equally magnificent in daylight hours as objects in themselves.

The level of detail in the carving is exquisite – I’m not sure if this is done by hand or by laser etching, but either way, the result is amazing.

The lamp bases are made from either carved wood or wound cord, setting off the lamp beautifully.

Calabarte’s website is under construction but you can check out Calabarte’s flickr page for more images.

This table lamp, spotted in a Freshome blog post, is exactly the type of thing we’re hoping to bring you soon here at Original Table Lamp Co.

I’ve located a supplier of these “dusty” ceramic lamps and I’m just putting together an order as we speak.

Are they your cup of tea?