Table Lamps in the 1920s

In the 1920s, when electricity became widely available in households, table lamps underwent great changes in design, as designers realized that electricity could not go beyond the styles of gas and candle lamps. Some lighting designers applied the ideas of the Modernist movement to their creations, using simple shapes and lines and new materials. However, the elaborate lines of the 1890s Art Nouveau are still present in some table lamps designed in the 1920s.

The Bauhaus Table Lamp

The Bauhaus school was founded in Germany in 1919, and it became famous for its approach to innovative designs. In 1923, Wagenfeld and Jucker created an iconic table lamp in the Bauhaus workshop. The Bauhaus table lamp had a very simple and industrial design of a cylindrical shaft, a circular base and a spherical shade. Today, the lamp is still produced in Germany.

Roycroft and Steuben Table Lamp

Roycroft was a community of craft workers founded in New York at the end of the 19th century. In the 1920s, Roycroft workshops produced several hand-beaten copper table lamps with purplish iridescent glass shades made at Steuben Glass Works. Their table lamp, called simply "Model No. 913," quickly became fashionable in America.

Emile Galle and Rene Lalique Table Lamps

Emile Galle was a French artist who produced table lamps with etched glass in the 1920s. Incorporating some ideas of the Art Noveau movement, such as the presence of flowing lines and curvilinear shapes, Galle's table lamps also had flower motifs.

Rene Lalique was another famous French designer who created glass table lamps in the 1920s. He extensively used frosted glass to create elaborate and exquisite surfaces. In 1928, Lalique designed the Cardamine and Carmelia table lights, two of his masterpieces.

Poul Henningsen Table Lamp

In 1927, Danish designer Poul Henningsen created a table lamp that today is considered a 20-century classic of design, according to the Victoria and Albert Museum of London. Made of nickel, plated brass, aluminum, white glass and Bakelite, this PH lamp is an example of the functionalist aesthetic predominant in the 1920s. Still produced today, the lamp consists of three white glass sections on a nickel-plated brass support.