Skip to main content

The latest designer lighting fixtures are about more than illumination: Dramatic, whimsical, witty and bold, they’re as much statement makers as lamps. Globe Style profiles some of the best and brightest

Open this photo in gallery:

Remember the giant alien craft in Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds ? Think of Jakob Timpe’s Camp Floor Lamp for Marset as a chic – and much less menacing – homage. $1,536 at LightForm.

1 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Got milk – or at least a charmingly rustic matte-opal-glass milkcan lamp – for your home or cottage? If not, check out Eric Jourdan’s Somerset Floor Lamp for Ligne Roset. It does a homebody good. $735 at Kiosk.

2 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Pleasance under glass? The Mini Teca Renaissance Cupola by Flos is more like delight under extra-clear methacrylate. It’s the same thing, really. Price on request at LivingSpace and LightForm.

3 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

What would Vladimir Nabokov make of Nika Zupanc’s Lolita Lamp for Moooi? Who knows, but the message seems to be: Think pink. Price on request at LivingSpace, LightForm and other retailers.

4 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

If the catchword of the sixties was “plastic,” the buzzword of 21st-century design is “wood,” as Moooi’s uniquely handsome Tree Table Lamp, made from natural oak, ochre oak or zebrano, demonstrates. Timber! Price on request at LivingSpace, LightForm and other retailers.

5 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Remember the Cotton Club? Well, the Mercer Lamp by Joan Gaspar and Javier M. Borrás for Marset has cottoned on to the cool factor of fixtures with real cotton shades. $730 at LightForm.

6 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Anchored by a solid stone base, New York-based Rich Brilliant Willing’s Quart Table Lamp packs more power than its slight frame suggests. $583 at LightForm.

7 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

In a new twist on clip art, Canadian wunderkind Lukas Peet’s Double Loop Rudi Fixture for Roll & Hill resembles a beautifully illuminated pair of paper clips. We’re hooked. Price on request at Hollace Cluny and LightForm.

8 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Whether hanging from the ceiling or perched on the floor, displayed individually, in pairs or as trios, Enoc Armengol’s Bailaora T Lamps for Metalarte provide high drama as well as diffused lighting. $682 each at LightForm.

9 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Available in red/blue and white/black, Jonah Takaji’s Bluff City 8-Inch Suspension Lamp for Roll & Hill offers a bright, contemporary take on industrial style. Price on request at Hollace Cluny (www.hollacecluny.ca) and LightForm showrooms across Canada, including a new one in Toronto (www.lightform.ca).

10 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

A series consisting of nine differently spun aluminum diffusers that can be combined and configured to order, Canadian brothers Paul and Christopher Massie’s Sentry Pendants for Metalarte are finished in either white or black and have matching electrical cords. $261 each at LightForm.

11 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Made of a semi-rigid recycled material, the variously toned “shingles” that cover Benjamin Hubert’s Roofer Hanging Lamp for Fabbian (green is shown here, but it also comes in brown and grey) can be removed and thrown in the washing machine for cleaning. $627 to $2,900 at Livingspace (www.livingspace.com) and LightForm.

12 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Talk about cups that runeth over: Hang Jaime Hayon’s ultra-glam Copacabana Queen Chandelier for Metalarte in your dining room and your party planning is half done. $44,937 at LightForm.

13 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Smithfield sounds like an awfully folksy name for a fixture as sleek as a flying saucer, but add an “S” to the name of Jasper Morrison’s elegant pendant light for Flos (the product’s full moniker is Smithfield S) and it sounds a bit more sci-fi, no? Price on request at Kiosk (www.kioskdesign.ca), LivingSpace and LightForm.

14 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Arihiro Miyake’s Miyake Floor and Table Lamps for Moooi are nothing if not well-grounded. Price on request at LivingSpace and LightForm.

15 of 16
Open this photo in gallery:

Designed and mass produced “to prove industrial manufacture was still possible in the U.K.,” Tom Dixon’s Jack Light more than meets the Cool Britannia quotient. From $541 at Inform Interiors (www.informinteriors.com).

16 of 16

Interact with The Globe