apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Yeah, um, these are lamps rewired to hang upside down.

Not quite sure what "ambiance" this creates for you, but any shaded ceiling fixture would get you the same light look, unless it is the surrealism of the lamps themselves you liking.

you *are* liking

Those lamps have been rewired. I am a manager of a store in Austin and we sell them. The name of the company that makes them is Shine Home and their website is shineeveryday.com (but it is to the trade).
They are really beautiful unique lamps.

I don't think it would be that hard to hack this...a lot of lamps' cords already come out the bottom, right, or maybe I'm missing something? If the cord comes out the side, you could basically just thread the cord out a different way, so it wouldn't exactly be a rewire (except if you need a longer cord......and double exception if you want it hardwired-- a matter all together different that I am not qualified to comment on!).

A few drinks too many, and this place could be very confounding!

I think you could definitely do these as a DIY. In order to support the weight of the lamp, I think you'd want to take apart the original innards to replace whatever threaded pipe is inside with a longer one designed for a floor lamp. Once you change the pipe and rewire the socket, you should be able to connect the light to a standard ceiling fixture (designed to accept a threaded connection).

Could be a fun project...

I think this would have to be done with a lot of thought in terms of composition, scale, etc. to look good.
Stark used bases with shapes that 'work' upside down, and he hung all the shades at the same height with colors that work with the furniture below -- and he did everything on a bold scale. If you simply hang a few lamps upside down here and there in your home, it could end up looking rather silly...

I think the key challenges to DIY are

1) Making sure you have power cord/cable strong enough to hang the lamp

2) Getting the cord to come out of the exact center of the bottom of the lamp so the lamp hangs straight down

3) Hooking the lamp power cable into a junction box in the ceiling

I think number 2) might be the hardest part. One way to accomplish it would be to trace the base of the lamp on some plywood, find the center of the resulting circle, cut out the circle, drill out the center, attach the wood circle to the bottom of the lamp and run the power cable out the center hole.

I've seen this done before with updside down floor lamps that have a broad, flat, round base that covers the hole in the ceiling, with the floor lamp pole substituting for the chandelier cord. This would be an interesting challenge. You could experiment with some thrift store/flea market lamps, paint them with some nice shiney paint and try hanging them upside down.

If you were to hack this, it would be way easier and safer to suspend the lamps with a thin gauge of aircraft cable instead of relying on the electrical cable. This would keep tension off the electrical connections, and you could screw a small eye bolt in the center of the base to give an even hang.