Art Deco Rose Lamp

In August of 2023, the most interesting commission came in from Carrie Stevenson (my fourth from her). Carrie is a devout curator of anything Art Deco and her beautiful heritage home at 5 Alexandra Street is a showcase of the style. This time, she asked for a table lamp. I was instantly engaged and deeply inspired.

The design for this lamp was based on a sketch I had done for a previous project (Luminous Loo, nod to Charlie Mackintosh and his rose motif). The concept was passed over at that time but lingered on Carrie’s mind until she had the vision of using it in a lamp. My mind swirled with the possibilities and the challenges (there’s the rush I seek).

The first challenge was to source the 40 red jewels for the petal-drops… all from one supplier… at a reasonable price… and I got lucky.

The next challenge was cutting out the many circles in the design. Glass prefers to break in a straight line. The inside curves in the ivory background were the most intense as I didn’t have a lot of that glass to spare. I used the tap tap method to break the glass along the curves. Again, with lots of teeth clenching and brow-mopping, I got lucky.

With all the glass pieces cut out and stacked up, I settled into several happy days of assembly. First, the four side panels and then the top piece. To crown the top, I used a 6″ Irena (Polish glass company, founded 1924) cut-crystal dessert plate.

Once assembled, I turned attention to the third challenge… what to use as the lamp base. I wanted something wider than the shade (for stability) and easy to drill (for running wires). I took a square piece from a 2×12 wood plank to my friend, Glenn Ketchum (master woodsmith) in St. George, to have the edges routered into a smooth shoulder. This was done to match the quarter round wood trim I placed around the base of the shade as placement guards. I like how the double shoulder affect compliments the Art Deco style of the shade.

The final challenge was how to illuminate the lamp. Being such a tall narrow design, I wanted to fill the vertical interior with light as opposed to concentrated in one spot. Also, because this is a sealed tower with no heat vents, I wanted to use L.E.D. light (cool) instead of incandescent light (hot). The longest tubular LED light bulb I could find was 12″ (Light It Up By Design Inc., Rothesay) so I went with it hoping for the desired effect.

Alas, that was not the solution (too short to fill the interior and too intense through the clear textured glass). So, on to Plan B… I envisioned a tall internal tube filled with LED mini lights. I found a 16″ glass flower vase at Michael’s and adapted it for this purpose. How ironic…a glass vase for the glass roses. I drilled a hole in the bottom and inverted it. That way I could feed the last few lights up through the hole as a surface cluster to illuminate the crystal dish.

As I approach retirement at the end of ’23, this may be the final lamp of my professional glass career. And what a lamp it is! I love how it twinkles at night. I also love how natural light shows through it in the daytime. Truly one-of-a-kind, this lamp project challenged me to reach a higher level in craftsmanship and I enjoyed the learning. It was a well-balanced experience of all qualities of life; intellectual, physical, spiritual and emotional.

Thanks to Glenn for helping with the base. Thanks to Monica for keeping watch and cheering me on. A very special Thank You to Carrie for her heritage-minded passions and home decor visions.

I am very pleased to present the Art Deco Rose Lamp.