A Vintage Light Lover's Dream

I found a great site recently called Factory 20, with some terrific antique and vintage lights on it if that’s your style.  I picked just a few that I fell in love with, but check out the site for all of their options. They appear to add new things all the time, so it’s worth keeping on your radar. 

I love the huge clear glass globe on this desk light, and with the right lightbulb would definitely be a statement piece.  A light like this or this would be interesting.  I think the shorter versions of the antique bulbs would be good.  I like the sculptural quality of the second one personally.  I also think the base of this light could easily be mixed in with other styles of furniture and accessories in your home.

I think these pendant disc lights are very interesting for their minimalist nature, but a grouping of them makes a statement (they only have 5 available currently).  In their original life, they apparently hung over shop counters to highlight merchandise. Similar to the lights above, I think these milk light pendants would look amazing paired with interesting bulbs.  You could do a longer Edison/Antique type bulb, or as an alternative, I think a chrome bulb with these would be very interesting and would bring a more modern edge to their vintage nature.

The cobalt blue color on the metal pendants shown below is amazing and gorgeous.  In the close up it looks like the tops need a little dusting, but that’s easily done.   These would be a real statement in a clean, white, modern kitchen as the lights over an island.  But I could also see them as the bedside lights in a bedroom (master or guest) to create a different look for a reading light.

Now the metal expanding shade pendants below give you real flexibility.  Designed to be able to give focused mood or spotlighting in their down position, or offering brighter surrounding light in their up position, these are quite unique.  They were very inventive in the 1960s.

5 of the Pendants in the down position

The Pendant in the Up Position

A set of the industrial pendant lights so many current companies are designing now, these lights are the real thing with a porcelain coating from the 1940s (and in great shape!).

Described as Deco on Factory20 and from the time period of the 1930s, this pair of vintage floor lamps would be a conversation piece and add a lot of interest to your home.  Especially the detail at the top of the lamp connecting the shade to the base, with the sphinx-like figure.

A Closeup of The figure at the top of the base rod

I could not resist these Vintage Wobble lights designed by George Kovacs - they look great and you can have some fun pushing it over and watching it come back.  Like the old bop bags but better.  

Thanks to the Galerie Sommerlath listing on the site www.ltwid.com, here is the original ad description of these lights:

"No, this is not a picture of two lightbulbs making love. It's a picture of one lightbulb making love. To a polished chrome, weighted base.
Push a Wobble and it snaps right back to attention. So it's a great lamp for people who like to fidget.
Who knows? This little lamp may replace pencil chewing, rubber band twisting, and paper clip bending (Captain Queeg would have had two Wobbles.)
Besides all the excitement, every Wobble comes equipped with a new kind of lightbulb called the Beanie Bulb.
And all this costs a mere $15.90. So the price won't make you nervous. But if it does, at least you'll have a lamp that understands."

How great were the 1970s?  Mr. Kovacs died in 2007, and his obituary is an interesting read.

Capping it off (or now at least) is this Greta Von Nessen Pod desk lamp, which is beautiful in its simplicity.  It would fit well in a mid-century modern house, or in an eclectic home with lots of style.  According to Wikipedia, Greta was an industrial engineer who with her husband Walter, co-founded Nessen Studios.  Her design of the Anywhere Lamp is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.