FASCINATING LAMPS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 111, 6 November 1935, Page 13

FASCINATING LAMPS

DESIRABLE PRESENTS

ROMANCE OF LIGHTING

Choosing a wedding gift, standard table, or floor lamp is not always an easy matter. In some instances discreet inquiries can be made with regard to the colouring and period of setting in which the light is to be placed, in others this is not practicable (states a writer in the London "Daily Telegraph"). Yet the new lamps are so fa6cinating in their variety of design and colouring that, given the right choice of light, there are few more desirable presents. The chief points to be kept in mind are that the gift of your choice should (harmonise with the period and colouring of the room it is to adorn or that the light shall be designed for a definite purpose—the writing desk, bridge table, or for reading. Illumination has become one of the artistic features of the modern home. Apart from lighting' schemes, supplementary lights in the way of floor and table standards can be .practical and decorative. It is when introducing the decorative note that the colour and design of the lamp is so important in a room. Fostered by the influence of Chinese art and the Italian Renaissance in the design, colouring and texture of present-day furnishing fabrics, the much-heralded return of the "grand manner" in the new interior decoration is having a distinct effect on the 1935-36 designs for winter lighting. CRYSTAL MODELS. There are the lovely crystal candelabra lights, which look attractive in the Regency type of room, and also in modern rooms. In many instances these lamps are adapted to presentday uses from original designs. Others are made in up-to-date forms. An example of this .crystal lighting is a tall, cut-crystal pedestal and circular bowl lamp in one piece. Light bulbs are enclosed in the bowl, and the effect is wonderfully soft and luminous, enriched by the gleaming facets of the cut crystal. There are smaller replicas in the same type of design to use in place of candles for the dinner table. If in doubt, as so often one may be, in regard to the colour schemes in the new home of the bride-to-be, these crystal standard'lamps make a charming and always desirable gift. When there is some idea of colour schemes the selection is by no means so difficult, owing in part to the fact that so much has been achieved in linking up the season's colour harmonies by manufacturers in all departments of furnishing fabrics, wall coverings, carpets, and rugs. This influence extends to many accessories including lamp standards, shades, and cushions. PORCELAIN FIGURE LAMPS. In choosing a decorative type of standard light the colour scheme of curtains, carpets, cushions, and rugs are pointe to be considered. A lamp may accent the dominant colour note in a Chinese carpet or Persian rug. It may be the high spot of beauty in colour, linking up with the ricMy coloured cushions which are a feature in many of the neutral toned':-back-grounds of the modernist room. Painted porcelain figures alive with character and charm adorn many of the new pedestal table lamps. The figures are posed on a wood plinth, and in delicate colourings delineate some well-known picturesque character in a play or opera. There are Chelsea china like groups; and other porcelain standards include painted bird subjects. Figures posed on classic lines are seen in ivory coloured ware. Chinese vase and jar designs in blue and white, ivory and black, and deep crimson are shown; also curious Oriental temple figures in substances that resemble jade, rose quartz, and other Chinese stones. The classic note is seen in the new Grecian vase lamps in alabaster ware; some of these are flat in shape,, others are rounded with groups of flowers, or fruit as a centre decoration. These I vase lamps have fitments for interior lighting, as well as the usual-stand-ard light with severely designed shade in keeping with the classic lines of the vase. .... Many new,designs,appear in painted porcelain vase lamps, and there '• are others in which glass and chromium have been combined in the modernist way. LARGER SHADES. In keeping with the latest trend in decoration, lampshades are larger.and more elaborate. There is a new washable moire fabric which is handpainted in a variety of flower designs. A bowl lamp in pale green glass with an interior light is finished with a shade with a hand-painted water lily design. Ostrich feather plumes placed between this moire fabric, which is now being used instead of parchment, are dyed in pastel tones of rose pink, turquoise blue, or pale green. The delicacy of colouring and the fine outline of the leather fronds against the light has' an exotic effect which harmonises well with the satin and silken surfaced upholstery used for the more ornate type of furnishing now coming into vogue.