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← JournalGuide · 1970s–1990sPostmodern and high-tech lampsBy the 1980s designers were pulling in opposite directions. Memphis made lamps loud and playful, high-tech designers made them as slim as engineering allowed, and decorators brought back classical columns and urns.Quondam Redux · Guide by periodIn this guideMemphisHalogen and the TizioClassical revivalIndustrial and LED lightingWhat we look forView photographIBEX studio glass cone bowl, St. Louis, signed 1986 · Sold · From our archive.Memphis.Ettore Sottsass founded the Memphis group in Milan in 1981. Its designers mixed bright colors, plastic laminates and odd geometry on purpose. Michele De Lucchi’s Tahiti lamp of 1981, shaped like a bird on a spotted base, is one of the best known.The same color and wit spread to everyday objects. The IBEX glass studio in St. Louis, founded in 1985, made the purple and yellow cone bowl at the top of this guide, and Alessi’s Girotondo range of 1989, designed by Stefano Giovannoni and Guido Venturini, cut a chain of paper-doll figures into polished steel.View photographAlessi Girotondo platter and tray, designed 1989 · Sold · From our archive.Halogen and the Tizio.Richard Sapper’s Tizio of 1972, made by Artemide, uses a low-voltage halogen bulb and counterweights. Its arms carry the current, so there are no wires along them. Halogen desk and floor lamps followed in large numbers through the 1980s and 1990s.Classical revival.Many 1980s homes went the other way, toward columns, urns and polished brass. Our archive has two pairs from that decade: green enamel column lamps by Tyndale for Frederick Cooper, and brass and black marble column lamps in the Frederick Cooper style.Industrial and LED lighting.We specialize in antique and vintage lamps, so we don’t cover new industrial-style lighting with exposed bulbs, or modern LED designs.What we look for.Transformers and bulbsLow-voltage halogen lamps need working transformers and the right bulbs, some of which are no longer made. We check both.Laminate and lacquerMemphis-era pieces chip at laminate edges and scratch easily. We photograph the wear.Maker’s labelsFrederick Cooper, Tyndale and the Italian manufacturers labeled their lamps. A label separates a maker from a style.

From this periodIn our archive.Looking for something like these? We can search for a piece from this period.Tyndale green column lamps, a pair1980s · BrassSold · ArchiveSource something like this →: Tyndale green column lamps, a pairBrass & black marble lamps, a pair1980s · BrassSold · ArchiveSource something like this →: Brass & black marble lamps, a pairRequest sourcing →Explore the Archive →

More guidesKeep reading.Guide · 20th centuryMurano and Venetian glassGlassmakers on Murano have worked color into glass for more than seven centuries. Learning to see their techniques is the first step to knowing what you’re looking at, and what you’re not.Guide · 1950s–1970sMid-century design classicsAfter the war, lighting became a showcase for designers. Japanese paper, Italian marble and new plastics produced lamps that are still made, and widely copied, today.Guide · 1950s–1980sMid-century and modern makersFrom Swedish stoneware to Californian oak, the best modern lighting stripped away ornament and kept the maker’s hand. Often the only record of who made a piece is a small sticker or stamp.

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