Traditional Desk Lamps

Traditional timeless desk lamps

Working at a desk demands specific light. The lighting industry has long met the needs for that demand. From the antique trendsetters of desk lighting to the contemporary interpretations of their predecessors, the lamps made specifically for use at a desk have a personality all their own. Lamps designed specifically for use in the late night hours at a desk are easy to identify. Unlike side table lamps with shades opened at top and bottom, desk lamps are designed with the light source casting its glow in one direction only.

Banker's Lamp

The banker's lamp was specifically designed for late night hours when monotony had set in at the office with unfinished work to be performed. This rather petite lamp has a distinguishing feature in that its shade is a half cylinder glass globe closed on both ends. The opaque shade's exterior is a bright green and the interior is a dense white. The body of the lamp is made of brass polished to a high shine. Its sleek top-to-bottom design makes it ideal for any desk where clutter needs to be balanced visually with a distinctive counter weight.

Tiffany Lamp

The Tiffany lamp has many counterfeits. Nonetheless, even the good counterfeits are lovely. If a Tiffany is called for, even a counterfeit will do for the average interior where lighting is not the first budget priority. Due to the unique, multicolored stained-glass design of the shade, these exquisite sources of light are best used at a desk in a room where asymmetry is a delicate statement. The bronze body is generally fluted with asymmetrical motifs running down toward the base. The cut edges of an original Tiffany shade provide an additional fingerprint for identification, if an original is sought.

Brass Desk Lamp

The brass desk lamp with cylindrical brass shade is a close cousin to the banker's lamp. One of its distinctive features is a goose neck design, which can sometimes be found with a double joint. The rotation capacity of its double joints render the brass desk lamp highly desirable for work that requires an extremely close source of light.

Efficiency

Due to the fact that the lamp sits on the desk top rather than being mounted on the ceiling, even an old desk lamp is efficient for spot illumination on a work desk. Certainly, a ceiling-mounted light is insufficient to properly illuminate a work desk where tedious tasks that tire the eyes are done late at night.

Contemporary Interpretations

With only a few exceptions, contemporary interpretations of the classics in desk lighting are good interpretations. Those exceptions would be the mass-produced imports that are fabricated outside the United States with inferior materials, which simply do not stand up to the test of time and use the way their traditional predecessors have.