Texture, shape cast lamps in a new light

LITTLE ROCK — When you go shopping, leave your preconceptions at home. Even familiar forms are being tweaked to create hybrids that are pleasantly surprising.

Take shape, for example. Gourds, globes, urns and eggs seem fairly mundane. But made from unexpected materials or with a sheen or texture, the lamps become head turners and conversation starters.

You also may notice that some designs are larger in scale, such as tall lamps with tall shades, a nod to 1960s and 1970s.

Placing the light source within a familiar form, say, in a cylinder, creates a glow, especially when the cladding is opaque.

Some lamps are sprawling, crawling or sinuous, and others are made of ribbons of colorful glass. These captivating striped sculptures almost seem to put art first, treating light as an afterthought. Other sculptural forms are modeled in bronze or other materials.

Celebrating pure form is especially dramatic with strong geometric shapes, Greek keys or chain links that play with space.

There’s a lot to be said for transparency.

Familiar shapes such as stacked glass crystal or Lucite balls or cubes are reminiscent of boudoir lamps from Hollywood movies of the ’30s and ’40s. Fashion designer Michael Kors described a simpler, classic see-through design created by New York icon John Saladino some 30 years ago as “the little black dress of lamps.”

Some clear glass cylinders or urn shapes have been designed to house collections - sea shells, for example. But these, as well as newer square and rectangular shapes, are most intriguing when they allow the eyes to get past the form, to take in other objects and colors in the room. Colored glass adds still another dimension.

An additional dynamic option is a lamp that’s reflective or metallic. From mercury glass, which lends vintage appeal, to mirrors to metals including stainless steel, chrome and copper that is polished, burnished, hammered or otherwise textured, can add sparkle and sophistication.

Textured surfaces also include grass cloth, shells, woven materials such as rattan and leatherclad pieces that are embossed to mimic shagreen, some in surprising colors.