The Shanghai Etched Glass Table Lamp by Von Alden

The great interior design tradition of Old Shanghai was a collision of East and West at its most opulent, European Victorian forms given Chinese ornamentation, lacquer meeting brass, etched glass meeting silk. The Shanghai Table Lamp is a direct descendant of that tradition. Richly etched glass panels, patterned with botanical motifs in the Chinese export style, are set in an antique brass frame that carries the weight and patina of something genuinely old. When lit, the etched glass casts warm patterned shadows across surrounding surfaces that change with the angle of view.

This is a lamp for rooms that understand that interiors can hold more than one tradition simultaneously. A bedroom with dark walls and brass hardware, a study where books line the shelves and the lamp on the desk needs to be worth looking at, a living room where the conversation piece happens to also illuminate the room, the Shanghai belongs in each of these places equally. The warm amber LED output flatters the etched glass and the antique brass alike, making this a fixture that earns its price point every evening it is switched on.