The very best designer lighting is as useful as it is beautiful. Here’s how to achieve the perfect combination of task lighting and decorative lighting in your home…
One of the most important tricks of home styling is finding objects that are in that sweet spot of being both stylish and practical: looking good but also doing what they’re supposed to actually do. So ideally, you want to furnish your sitting room with chairs that are as pleasing on the derriere as they are on the eye, to kit out your kitchen in cool-looking appliances, and to find the most elegant possible storage solutions. Lighting, of course, is no different. Which brings us to task lighting – the most uninteresting of the four kinds of light. Ambient light helps create mood, accent lighting makes your room look better and decorative lighting is any lamp that’s beautiful in itself. Task lighting, on the other hand, is just the light you need to do whatever job you need doing and all sorts of dull things count: the dentist’s lamp, the light in the fridge… even the bare lightbulb hanging from the rafters in the loft counts as task lighting. But the good news is that around the home, there’s no reason why task lighting can’t come together with decorative lighting in perfect, stylishly practical, harmony. All it takes is the right designer lamps – and at Pooky, we’re very keen on that sort of thing. Here’s our buyer’s guide…
Desk lights
Plato desk lamp in copper and chrome - unfortunately this desk light is no longer available, but please take a look at our extensive range of desk lights here.
Perhaps the most obviously task lamps around the home are desk lights. The classic anglepoise-style lamp has been a staple of domestic studies for decades, despite its original purpose as a tool for doctors and dentists. What’s interesting is how that eminently practical construction – a hooded lamp on an adjustable arm – has become a design classic, with different lighting craftsmen giving the basic structure an industrial or mid-century or retro look. At Pooky, we do designer desk lights in all sorts of styles, sizes and finishes - from antiquated silver to copper and chrome – so you can find the one that perfectly suits your room’s style, as well as helping you to see what you’re reading.
Foinaven desk lamp - unfortunately this desk light is no longer available, but please take a look at our extensive range of desk lights here.
Kitchen pendants
Stanley in military green - unfortunately this kitchen pendant is no longer available, but please take a look at our extensive range of kitchen pendants here.
The next most obvious place for stylish task lighting is probably the kitchen (when chopping carrots, it’s generally useful to be able to see your fingers). Pendant lights – single, or in rows – are a glorious opportunity to stamp your style on a kitchen, while also solving a practical problem. A row of smaller pendants like the Stanley (above) is ideal over a kitchen island, or for a real statement you can go for a large, striking pendant over a dining table. The Lawrence is just about as statement-y as task lighting gets…
Lawrence in stone - unfortunately this kitchen pendant is no longer available, but please take a look at our extensive range of kitchen pendants here.
Bedside lamps
Pooky's Elsa table lamp in magenta with yellow Ikat shade in Emily's master bedroom. Photo credit: Susie Lowe.
Yes, despite everything that technology has thrown at us, people do still like to read books made of paper while lying in bed, and that means people still need bedside lamps. And the best thing is that they’re a fabulous excuse to introduce a stylish object into your bedroom. The stylist Emily Murray uses one of our Elsa lamps in magenta for her bedside (above), creating a lovely colourful but soft feel. Or for a completely different approach, you can go for the desk light style in miniature. The Winkle (below) is perfect for that – see more bedside lamp ideas here.
Winkle desk light - unfortunately this desk light is no longer available, but please take a look at our extensive range of desk lights here.
Floor lamps for reading nooks
Moonshine floor lamp in a reading nook
Floor lamps are usually a source of ambient light, but they can do task lighting, too. A classic example is a standing lamp illuminating a favourite nook for reading, with an armchair, a small table and nothing much else. We have a range of floor lamps that might fit your style, but one we’re very proud of is the Astaire (below). It’s like a massively oversized desk light in solid brass and finished in a classy antiqued silver. Absolutely stunning in a sitting room, and with big industrial style taps to change the angle and direction, we feel it may just be the pinnacle of stylish task lighting design…
Astaire floor lamp - shop here
