MODERN LIGHTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22211, 11 September 1935, Page 6

MODERN LIGHTING

SHAFTS AND STANDARDS EASE FOR THE READER Every house, like the folk who live there, has a manner of its own. Indeed, each room in every house has a manner of its own; and it is the careful aim of every furnisher first to create and then to preserve this individual character throughout the home, states an overseas writer. Thanks to the modern designers we have generous scope for our experiments. Even standard lamps are no longer a delicacy reserved for the refined solitude of the drawing-room. In wood, chromium, iron or the new dullsurfaced anodised aluminium (obtainable in shades to tone with almost any colour scheme) they are now artistically adapted for our multifarious and often exacting environments. The shaft may be a cluster of stems like the clustered column in a church; or it may bo a single, slender stem, rounded or cornered. Unless it is wrought in iron, which frequently curls itself into fantastic shapes, it is practically innocent of elaboration and has merely the necessary base and shade at the appropriate ends. Differences arise, however, as we should expect and hope for. And the woman in search of novelty will claim the chromium standard rising from an ebony base, encircled half-way up with a glass table, and topped with a buckram shade, hand-painted. Also chro-mium-plated is the bridge lamp whose arm may be adjusted for height and shade for angle. Indirect lighting expressed in "standard" form is also effective. The shade here becomes a kind of cup and throws

the illumination upwards like a flower of light, beautifully diffused. It is even possible to have both' modes of lighting on one standard: the direct and indirect. To protect the reader in a low chair from the unmitigated glare of a too-direct light, a kindlier diffusion is achieved bv the addition of an inner cylindrical shade. Cellophane walls imprisoning feathers in dainty designs; waxed paper; the hairy-surfaced Japanese wood paper; vellum, buckram and an occasional chintz make the majority of shades. And style is almost as various as material. Bold fluting often gives distinction of outline; while the stitching-on of sequins or wool tufts not infrequently confers originality, and pleats held in position with a draw-string humorously call to mind tho neckline of some modern dresses!