All Photos By Gail
The works of artist / designer Randy Polumbo are rooted in shapes and concepts that combine the organic with the cosmic, magical, and supernatural. His 2022 Flamenco sculptural floor lamp is instantly recognizable as part of his oeuvre for its hammered aluminum base and colorful hand-blown glass branches and bulbs that resemble sex toys.
Continue reading Eye On Design: Randy Polumbo, Flamenco Sculptural Floor Lamp
All Photos By Gail
This collection of decorative glass whale oil lamps (1850 – 1900, artists unknown) are made from a variety of materials including pressed and free-blown glass, marble, brass tin and other metals. During the 1840s, considered the peak of whale commerce, US ships set sail from New England ports, hunting diverse whale species across oceans from the western arctic to Brazil. Continue reading Eye On Design: 19th Century Whale Oil Lamps
All Photos By Gail
Tiffany artisans made the irregularly surfaced Turtlebacks, a Tiffany Studio invention, by pressing glass into molds.
Story and All Photos By Gail Worley
New York-based Chilean designer Sebastian Errazuriz is known for thinking way outside the box. Always on the look-out for interesting materials, he aims to strike a balance of artistic and practical qualities of design, and his sense of humor often ends up in the mix. In this case, Errazuriz obtained the bodies of taxidermy chickens (which died of natural causes) to create these fun and unique Chicken Lamps. Who says upcycling has to be dull?
Continue reading Eye On Design: Chicken Lamps By Sebastian Errazuriz
Photo By Gail
One of Tiffany Studios‘ most popular models, the Wisteria, was priced as $400 in 1906, placing it among the firm’s most costly lamps. The glass selection for the two lamps (both circa 1901) seen in the above photo created two dramatically different interpretations of the same design. One has a refined color palette ranging from pale blue to azure and cobalt, while the other displays bold contrasts of blue and white clusters.
Wisteria abounded in LC Tiffany’s leaded glass windows and on the grounds of his country estate, Laurelton Hall, and although the vine was a Tiffany favorite, Clara Driscoll’s correspondence identifies her as the designer of the iconic Wisteria lamp, which is composed of nearly 2,000 tiny pieces of glass. Designs for the Trumpet Creeper, Grape, and Apple Blossom, each sold with the same treelike base, followed shortly after the Wisteria.
Photographed in the New York Historical Society on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.