Glass & Crystal Bases

I love glass, and I especially love lamps with glass bases.    I do want to clarify that I wouldn’t fill my house only with table lamps with glass bases for interest sake -  there are a lot of fabulous lamps with bases other than glass or crystal - but I am drawn to them.   Here are a few I have found in my online, and now offline, travels.

Recently in New York, I stopped into the Aero store, started by designer Thomas O’Brien.  A very cool store packed with many eclectic and beautiful things, I recommend going there if you’re anywhere in the neighborhood (it’s in Soho).    His line of lighting is called Visual Comfort & Co.   I saw this small light on the bookshelf and fell in love with it immediately.  It’s called the Terri Cube Light, with a base of Crystal and polished silver fittings.  I think it packs quite a punch for such a small light.  I love how they have it displayed on a bookshelf, I think it would add an unusual dimension to lighting in any home.  You could also use it as a small bedside lamp, or on a console table. 

Another thing with glass lamps is the ability to add color with the lamp itself.  The color of this particular glass base is subtle enough to be flexible in many rooms and design schemes.  This shot was taken in the New York Store of Ochre on Broome Street, of their Cherub Lamp.  On the website you can see that this table lamp comes in a variety of base colors as well as different lampshade colors.  I was drawn to this combination in the store, but like a lot of the other combinations they have on the site as well.

I found this excellent light at the Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams Store (it was a great afternoon of stepping into a lot of home stores!).   I love this light for the brushed nickel pipe that goes through it.  I love the simplicity but also thought this was a great solution for what to do with the cord given the clear base.  The base is crystal, and comes with three different lampshade colors.  With this particular dark lampshade, all the light comes out the top and bottom of the light which is important to pay attention to.  This light would add a lot of ambiance and style, but if you’re looking for it to also add a lot of light to the room, you would want to consider one of the lighter options for the lampshade (there is a natural wood veneer and a white parchment that would let a lot more light out into the room).

While I was looking for the Terri Cube light on the Aero Studios site, I saw a similar lamp to the one above – the Cynthia Block Table Lamp.  Running a metal pipe through a clear base appears to be a possible design trend.   I personally prefer the lamp from MGBW because you don’t see the light pulls from any angle, but that is just personal preference.  There are no prices on the Aero Studios store website but the MGBW light is $545 in the configuration I have shown.

Lastly, I can’t write this post without a light from one of my favorite glass blowers, Simon Pearce.  Many of their table lamps are a little more on the traditional side – good if you have that style.  They could also be good for other styles if you find the right modern lampshade to go with it, to add a little mix of styles. 

There are a few modern shapes on the site as well.  I love the Nantucket lamp for its shape alone, but also for the ingeniousness of being able to add different accents into the lamp.  So cool, you could change it up a different times depending on your whims and desires.  You could have Christmas ball ornaments of different colors at the holidays, plants or flowers during the spring, sand toys in summer (if you were at a beach house), branches in fall, mementos from a trip… and on.  The possibilities are endless and I love the incredible ability it offers to personalize your table lamp.

I also love the shape and texture of the Stowe lamp, it would add some nice interest to a living room.  I would change out the lampshade for my style personally, but it is a beautiful lampshade and if it suits your design style (as I think it would for friends of mine who have an older home on the East Coast), it’s a great lamp as displayed on the site.

Finally, a glass pendant light.  It doesn’t fall technically into a glass or crystal base category given that it’s a hanging light, but it’s so beautiful I had to include it anyway.  I love the fact that these lights are handblown by artisans, each one unique and beautiful by that alone.