Every table needs a lamp – but where do you find the best of the best? Forget night-time jaunts to IKEA – we’ve uncovered some of the lighting world’s best-kept secrets in our top 50 list. Enjoy an intelligent table lamp on your late night in, with a rounded wooden plinth clamped to your desk. Take Victorian style into the 21st Century, with a brass fuse propping up a bulb in crystal. Find out why the Piccola lamp has a base in lambskin leather. Make your home glow with beautiful, well-designed table lamps for your office, living room or bedroom, with our top 50.
Cocotte Table Lamp: Serge Mouille’s famed lamp can sit at the exact height you’d like to read at. Buy the original – with its accompanying authenticity certificate – or get a more-cost efficient version here.
Serge Mouille Tripod Desk Lamp: Another creation by designer Mouille, this insect-like light from 1954 uses its original molds, proportions, materials and techniques. Buy its French-made, steel-tubed form complete with its own individual stamp and number.
Massaud Table Lamp w083: Made from cast aluminium and silicone, this table lamp from fellow French designer Jean-Marie Massaud verges on art. Almost weightless, it defies gravity with its impressive stretch and lean.
Want something more modern? This 2008 lamp by Richard Sapper counterbalances the weight between its arms and head, providing a light that stretches as far as you need it to. Buy it in black or white, or polycarbonate or painted metal, with the additional option of a tilting head.
Combine the old and the new. Michele de Lucchi and Giancarlo Fassina collaborated on this tall designer table lamp in 1987. With a base and cantilevered arms in polished aluminium, its much larger form is replicated in cheaper materials .
Spar Junior Table Lamp: Made in New Zealand from a 2012 design, the only thing junior about this table lamp is its height in comparison to its bigger brother. Utilise its spun aluminium and steel cantilever – with mesmerizing red cord – to light your desk with a three-year warranty.
Giraffa Desk Lamp: Looking for ? This nifty version features a 360-degree rotating shade, 50K light capacity and an ambient dimmer.
Foscarini Fork Table Lamp: Love a larger lamp shade? This design by Diesel uses hand-welded coated steel and brass eyelets. Unique touches such as jean-style stitching, a 360-degree head and hand-tailored linen make this Italian-made find a winner for the office.
Ceramic K Lamp: A surprising find in ceramic, this lamp fuses iconic British craftsmanship with modern-day needs. Available in terracotta or earthenware, its cute-as-pie form is handmade and assembled in England’s Stoke-on-Trent.
Atollo Desk Lamp: Get an art-piece lamp. These metal creations in black and white look simply fabulous on any living room table – and come with a one-year warranty. Find cheaper replicas on Ebay.
Panthella Mini LED Table Lamp: Like the Atollo’s shape, but prefer it more slim-line? This creation by the famed Verner Panton, now made in Denmark, can be set to one of three light intensities inside its spun aluminium shade.
Artemide Mia Table Lamp: Not a fan of conventional bases? These painted aluminium finds make tall-standing cylinders where bases used to be, creating a softer glow. Buy it in black, white, pastel pink or grey.
Flowerpot VP4 Table Lamp: Butter wouldn’t melt in this gorgeous floral design by Verner Panton. First concepted in 1969, this classic table lamp comes in painted metal, polished brass or copper from its native Denmark.
Bell Table Lamp: After a designer golden table lamp? Plated and pressed steel forms this mushroom-esque find, created by Tom Dixon in 2014.
Think outside the square. This brass and blown-glass lamp by Michael Anastassiades pivots a dimmer off its edge.
Little people live inside these innovative lamps. Vico Magistretti’s design from 1967 comes in a variety of coloured metal, with the possibility of mounting on a wall.
Copycat Table Lamp: Italian-made simplicity could make a splash in your living room. This Michael Anastassiades creation is made with hand-blown glass, an opal diffuser and finish of 24-carat gold, copper or polished aluminium.
Curl Table Lamp: Get the lamp that none of your neighbours would think of. Sebastian Bergne’s Italian-made curl lights from its base, using a dimmer and diffuser to change the mood.
Ribbon Light: Inspired by the contours of paper craft and origami, Claire Norcross’ design won a ‘Best in Lighting’ award from Elle Decoration in 2006. Its flow of natural or black-painted copper is the perfect companion for a bedside table. Find a more affordable version .
Oda Small Lamp: Harness the element of fire. Sebastian Herkner’s “balloon full of light“ references the famous water tower series by German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. Buy its replica .
Looking for a lamp form that’s all your own? This unusual Marset fixture with an arch in oak is one designer wooden table lamp we couldn’t miss off our list.
Punk Table Lamp: Pretty in coppered-pink, this table lamp packs a punch with its steel base and solid walnut switch. Stand it atop your home or work office for a snazzier way to get through your workload.
Originally made in Italy, the smooth contours of this carrara marble and varnished metal find could grace your office or living room table. Find it cheaper on .
Piccola Table Lamp: Buy a shade unlike any other. The first design by Pablo Pardo, this innovative light tilts to any angle on a base of lambskin leather. To buy it is to own a design in MoMA San Francisco’s permanent collection.
Tip your hat off to this shade. Inspired by Buddhist sage Bodhi Dharma, its sturdy base and tilted top comes in copper, chrome, black and white options.
Conic Table Lamp: Make your shade that little bit steeper. This 2015 lamp by Thomas Bentzen adds a touch of the flamboyant in powder-coated steel.
AJ Table Lamp: Need to focus your light on something specific? The iconic AJ lamp, a brainchild of Arne Jacobsen, was designed for Copenhagen’s Raddison Blu more than fifty years ago. Find the cheaper replica .
Tom Dixon Beat Table Lamp: Love the look of the oh-so-stylish Beat lights? Made with ‘beat’ brass and cast iron, Tom Dixon’s field trip to India discovered their methods of Indian metal manufacturing.
Tab Table Lamp: Earning the prestigious Wallpaper Design Award, this piece’s Italian-made aluminium and porcelain reflector is a handy aide to any office table.
Mantis BS3 Table Lamp: Part of a series paying homage to Alexander Calder, Bernard Schottlander’s 1951 piece has stood the test of time. Obsessed with lights using counterweights, repousse and chasing techniques, this piece evidences the resilient nature of this Jewish refugee.
Dove Table Lamp: Want a lamp that’s as light as a feather? This long and lean piece stretches across two large pages.
Pixo Optical Task Lamp: Available in five colours, this piece by Pablo Pardo boasts a minimal footprint. Its LED task light features full-range dimming and a USB port for your mobile devices.
Balfour Desk Lamp: Pivot your light to exactly the right angle. This 14-inch modern designer brass table lamp can aim at any point you please.
Make your office look super modern. This adjustable chrome lamp boasts tension springs on an aluminium and cast-iron base.
Bellevue Table Lamp: Another classic by Arne Jacobsen, the AJ3 was inspired by mass-produced tubular steel and modernist Bauhaus architecture. Now almost a century old, its 45-degree cut shade still shields eyes from glare – as do its cheaper replicas, available .
Grasshopper Table Lamp: Available in five oh-so-cool colours, the 1948 Grasshopper by Greta Grossman glows white from its inside. Its Danish-made form features a powder-coated steel shade, solid brass stem and rotating ball joint, which makes the most out of its bulb’s steady stream. Buy its replica for less .
Conic LED Lamp: Used to seeing wood on the base? Reverse your expectations with this brushed nickel lamp by George Kovacs. Complete with a bi-conical head, angled stem and 96-inch cord, its three-year warranty can withstand long nights at the office.
Rabbit Lamp: Hide a rabbit under your shade. Swedish design collaborative Front dreamed up this little creature, made from polyester and PVC. Find its more affordable replica .
Lee Broom Crystal Bulb Table Lamp: The table lamp version of Lee Broom’s award-winning pendants, these snazzy brass-stemmed lights hold cut-lead crystal bulbs. Choose from a clear or frosted hue for a modern twist on the old-time.
Deadstock Catherine Table Light: Using factory-salvaged steel, First Canadian Place carrara marble and machined brass, the different parts of this unusual light have many a story to tell.
Scantling Table Lamp Replica: An archaic word used to define a wood’s size, the Scantling as designed by Mathias Hahn looks more cutting-edge than old-fashioned. Paired with white-lacquered iron and a fully-rotating shade, you can find cheaper replicas .
Funiculi Table Lamp: Like the look of floor lamps, but not their size? This scaled-down version of Lluis Porqueras’ iconic floor lamp might be hard to pass up. Set its lacquered iron upon your bedside table.
Rook Table Lamp: Like the stouter look? This walnut criss-cross lamp with thick white shade could tickle your fancy.
Leo Desk Lamp: Representing the ‘golden age’ of Italian lighting in the 60’s and 70’s, the Leo’s die-cast aluminium body and chrome finish is simply fit for a king.
Clamp Task Lamp: Buying for an architect or draftsman? This unique wooden fixture by Dana Cannam clamps to your desk and cantilevers to position. Buy it in white oak or walnut.
Superlight LED Table Lamp: Long, lean and fully-dimmable, Matthew Boyko and Peter Stathis’ slender aluminium creation can be swung up and around on its three axes.
Eos Tripod Table Lamp: Get a lamp that’s a little different. Comprised of goose feathers and paper on an aluminium stand, it provides a gentle, diffused light perfect for bedtime. Find cheaper replicas on .
Uovo Table Lamp: Searching for a long lost egg? Find it in this Archivio Storico lamp, first designed in 1972.
Fora Outdoor Table Lamp: Want a light that works inside and out? This outdoor designer table lamp from Spanish designers Alex Fernández Camps and Gonzalo Milà uses an open-weave outer shade for protection from high winds.
Want a lamp that’s pure magic? The Flyte uses magnetic levitation and induction to hover its bulb over solid walnut.
See the Flyte levitating lamp in action below:
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