Flowers Tea Light
Lilach Lotan

Lilach Lotan makes jewelry for the home (otherwise known as lighting). I first saw the work of this young Canadian artist at a show in Philadelphia a few months ago and fell in love with her small, porcelain tea lights. They truly glow in the dark, gracing as well as adorning the spaces they occupy.

How lucky we are that artists today are working with every imaginable material to create lighting! Their designs range from bare bones high tech to sculptural to the consciously ornate. They are creating lighting that stands on the floor, sits on the table, hangs from the ceiling, leans against the wall, is attached to the wall, and everything in between.

I am a self-confessed lamp freak. All of my lamp “treasures” serve to shed light on my activities and inactivities and transform the rooms of my home. Seeing these Lotan tea lights make me realize that I probably need one or two small pieces of lighting jewelry to sit on my piano…

“Celadon Lamp with Natural Lotka Shade”
Jim Webb

I am a lamp freak. My collection includes beautiful and exotic lamps made by artist-friends, as well as unusual pieces (I say “unusual,” my husband says “strange”) found in flea markets. All serve to shed light on my activities and inactivities, transform the rooms of my home, and occasionally, transform my life.

These utilitarian duties are way too important to leave to the pedestrian lamps found in department stores. Our lamps serve as beacons, illuminating our surroundings and affecting our moods. They shape our view of the world.

The object lesson taught by the artist working with lighting is that function can be, should be, an artful blend of utility and beauty. It is not enough that the objects we use to adorn the places in which we live do the things they are intended to do. Lamps should grace the spaces they occupy and have some character as well.

As we move into fall and the shorter days of the year, my wish for you is a home filled with lamps that radiate presence as well as light.