Vintage view: desktop lamps

Kya deLongchamps puts four leading examples of desktop lamps under the spotlight.

From the natural symmetry of a modest vegetable to stellar inspired executive office dressing, vintage lamp designs from the middle of the 20th century continue to fascinate. I had an illuminating struggle to come up with four lights I simply had to share. Class costs, and right here is where you start paying for those retro leanings. If these beauties just inspire us look at more modest high-street luminaries with new eyes, then we’re seeing the light.

¦ Fase Boomerang, c1970. It may be curiously USS Enterprise in look, but once a Fase Presidente lamp from Madrid was seen hovering over the desk of Don Draper in Mad Men, it shot at warp-speed from a boutique classic to a popular sensation. These were executive desk lamps, reserved for those with a corner office and an expense account, and exported to 27 countries worldwide. For some, the early Fase lamps were tainted by association with Franco’s civil service, where The Presidente, The Presidente SC, The Falux, and The Boomerang 64 first performed desk duty on a government contract. The lamps are not only gorgeous but made but move like silk. My favourite, the Boomerang, has the unusual ability for a fixed-necked lamp of being able to swivel the light housing a full 360°, even turning up on its side. Most Fases, with the exception of some rather staid angle lamps from the 1980s, are highly sought after. Expect to pay in the order of €300-€500 for a Boomerang 64 in good condition with the odd nick, a two-pin plug and — crucially — the plastic diffuser intact. Try Fase specialists www.thekula.com