Three Lights That Bring the Woods Indoors

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OUT ON A LIMB | Swap actual plants for organic floor lamps, as in this library by designer Geoffrey Bennison. Photo: Clive Frost/World of Interiors, reprinted from Geoffrey Bennison: Master Decorator, Rizzoli, 2015

I HAVE ALWAYS been crazy for quirky lamps—I’ve fallen for ones with bases made to resemble pine cones, palm trees, pineapples, even a pair of fine-boned greyhounds. They’re a simple way to bring character to a room that verges on ordinary. My most recent lamp crush? A pair of woodland-themed bronze floor lamps that I found while flipping through the forthcoming book “Geoffrey Bennison: Master Decorator” (Rizzoli), out next month.

The subtly ornate stands, a Victorian-era copy of a Regency-era design, are molded in the shape of bamboo-like branches sprouting delicate leaves. With their foliage-evoking green silk shades, the lamps introduce whimsy to the library in the Manhattan home of Mr. Bennison’s longtime friend and client, the late film and stage director Peter Glenville.

“So often, standing lamps are spindly and lack presence, with their lamp shades floating in the air like a lollipop on a stick,” said Alexandra Pappas, owner of the New York City interior design firm Pappas Miron. “These lights are quite the opposite, holding their own in the richly decorated interior, adding an element of surprise.”

Lighting was an important part of Mr. Bennison’s decorating style, said the book’s author, Gillian Newberry, a former assistant to Mr. Bennison and current owner of Bennison Fabrics, which offers prints the designer created to fill the homes of clients such as Baron David de Rothschild and Princess Firyal of Jordan. “He used to travel all over the English countryside on the weekends hunting for antique lamps at estate sales and shops.”

STICK FIGURES // Three Lights That Bring the Great Outdoors Inside

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From left: Gold Leaf over Wood Notched Bamboo and Rope Floor Lamp from Vermillion 20th Century Furnishings, $2,700, 1stdibs.com; Iron Twig Floor Lamp, $339, shadesoflight.com; Clark Street Gold Twig Floor Lamp, $915, Mecox Gardens, 866-956-8552

But sourcing good examples can be a challenge, said Ms. Pappas, who has done her own share of estate-sale perusing. “While modern [floor lamps] tend to disappear, more traditional versions can sometimes verge on granny,” she said.

To find your own set of personality lights (as I like to call them) that combine the right amount of substance and style, try the Hamptons-based home furnishings shop Mecox Gardens. It offers a light with a knotty metallic twig base that would give a treehouse vibe to an airy boudoir (I envision it next to a cozy reading chaise), or increase the hothouse effect of a feminine living room overgrown with floral fabrics.

The website 1stdibs also has quite a few botanically inclined vintage lights, including one with a twisted bamboo stand in gold leaf that would bring a touch of bling—and the backwoods—to any room.