If you love design but lack the budget to kit out your entire home in your chosen style, a table lamp is a good place to start. A statement lamp can really set the tone for a space, in terms of material and looks, but also the kind of ambience it can provide. With so much choice, there’s plenty of scope to add some personality and fun to a room with a well-chosen lamp.
Traditional styles with fabric lampshades can be used to create a cosy mood, or brighten hallways and underused spaces. Modern styles tend to be more technical, often adjustable to give focused light for a particular task.
Most lamps won’t include a bulb, so check carefully what is required and whether it is easily available. LED bulbs offer energy savings and a longer life than traditional bulbs, but can often lack the warmth and glowing quality that’s desirable for use at home.
1. Anglepoise Type 75 Mini Desk Lamp: From £115, Anglepoise
It’s the classic adjustable lamp that Brits love for a sense of nostalgia: Everybody’s seen or used one at home, school or in the office. The Type 75 mini is an update on the original 1930s design by Kenneth Grange. Although the original was designed as a specific task lamp that offers all-round adjustability, the mini version is popular as a more general table lamp. It comes in six heritage colours from pillar box red to powder blue.
2. John Lewis Destiny Touch Lamp: £60, John Lewis
The outer cylinder of this unusual light is etched with a botanical design that casts your whole room with its pattern. The chrome outer has a copper finish; inside, glass beads refract light from the bulb with a dazzling effect. This statement lamp is fitted with a dimmer switch with three settings, operated by tapping the base. A real party piece that should draw admiring looks.
3. A by Amara Bliny Table Lamp: £150, Amara
Metallic tones look great on accent lamps, and there’s probably a copper lamp for every budget and taste. What sets Amara’s high-end design apart is its rich red colour and superb finish. The domed head is adjustable and focuses light without too much intensity. It makes a good reading light, but at 53cm-tall this statement lamp would work well anywhere in the home.
4. Cotswold Co. Bellingham Table Lamp: £35, Cotswold Co
This traditional-style table lamp has a ceramic base made to look like hammered bronze. By day, it cuts a handsome figure in the hallway or by the bedside, but it’s when switched on that you really see the finer detail of the textured base. With a compact size, and depth of just 10cm, it suits a counter, or slim hallway or pedestal table well. A good budget buy.
5. Tala Oak Touch Lamp: £120 (and bulb £39), Selfridges
Tala is a young British brand with its own range of energy-saving LED bulbs. Combining design and technology, the bulbs are designed to last 30,000 hours but also have the distinctive warm colour of an Edison bulb. The super-minimal Touch Lamp comes in oak or walnut, and has a brass base that acts as a touch-control switch. It’s a simple lamp but functions incredibly well and makes a sound investment.
6. Matthew Williamson Pineapple Lamp: £80, Debenhams
Pineapples are having a bit of a moment in interior design. The tropical fruit first came to symbolise hospitality in Colonial times, given as a luxury gift to guests. No longer so rare, it still endures as an interior motif. Matthew Williamson’s lamp returns the pineapple to a status symbol, with a gold finish and a contrasting purple shade. It has a soft glow, and presents a more refined way to get in on the trend.
7. French Connection Mesh Table Light: £65, French Connection
French Connection’s lamp looks more like a small sculpture than a piece of homeware. The industrial-looking light has a cylindrical form shrouded mysteriously in black metal mesh. When turned off, it could be mistaken for a speaker; when on, a round white bulb reveals itself. The unusual design gives an ambient light, and the mesh creates subtle patterns within the room.
8. Laura Ashley Henfield Complete Lamp: £45.50, Laura Ashley
The classic look of this lamp won’t be going out of fashion any time soon. Its small size (33cm x 22cm x 12cm), low wattage, and adjustable head make it useful at the bedside, or as a task lamp where you need to highlight a small area. The materials – a chrome stem and porcelain head and base – are subtle enough to fit with most schemes. It doesn’t make a statement, but performs well as an everyday lamp.
9. Wild and Wolf Gooseneck Table Lamp: £52, Black By Design
The Gooseneck table lamp has some serious retro style. The flexible neck and an angular head make it a good task light, throwing sharp light onto a table or desk for focused work. A nice touch is the old-fashioned braided flex (which aren’t prone to kinking unlike modern cables) and inline switch. It comes in black, grey or a punchy yellow.
10. Habitat Tripod Table Lamp: £100, Habitat
Not every lamp in your home has to be a showstopper. This low-key design from Habitat gets the job done in subtle style, with a three-legged base made in solid ash and a white silk shade. You can mix and match the shade and base, depending on your taste. The shade gives a diffuse light that’s good for creating a cosy mood in the living room or bedroom.
The Verdict: Table lamps
The Anglepoise Type 75 Mini is based on a design classic; it’s comforting to think the way these lamps are made has hardly changed in almost 90 years. At £115, it’s at the more expensive end of the range, but not unaffordable. And it’s incredibly useful too. In the study, or by the bedside, it makes a good reading light. In the hallway or lounge, the light can be made less intense by angling it to wash a wall or dark corner.
Follow IndyBest on Twitter and Pinterest
Have we missed any brands? Do you agree with our expert's choices? Drop us a line with any feedback or questions on
IndyBest product reviews are unbiased, independent advice you can trust. On some occasions, we earn revenue if you click the links and buy the products, but we never allow this to bias our coverage. The reviews are compiled through a mix of expert opinion and real-world testing
- More about:
- Lighting
- Home & Garden
- Furniture
Reuse content