Good Questions: What's the Story Behind This Lamp?

We picked this plastic lamp up yesterday at a local thrift store for $8 (after months of looking at more expensive options and being overly indecisive). We feel like we've seen it before, but don't really know much about it. Janel was reminded of a lamp back in the day and says:

In the seventies, my Mom and I put one just like that together from a kit (I remember because it was fun to fit it all together - very cool for a little kid to do). We put it in a bedroom in our house. It was purchased 'off the shelf' and was not a designer item, but there may very well be an 'original' that ours was based on.

We think it's a fun find. Anyone else have some insight for us??

Comments (9)

looks like something that UO had a while back....
Kinda...

If I remember correctly, they had several different styles....

posted by becca jo on 2006-06-28 14:23:18

But the Urban Outfitter's design was probably itself based on something else.

It's a bit reminiscent of Le Klint (click my name) but not in the diy sense.

posted by Anna on 2006-06-28 15:35:21

oh yeah i'm sure UO took it from somewhere else....but it looks like it's pretty new. if it is from the 70's, my guess is the material would be dingier....anyway i think it was about 2 years ago, i remember these flat-packed lamp shades in about 4-5 different styles. i don't know if it was the UO house brand that made them, or not.

posted by becca jo on 2006-06-28 15:53:27

I think it's Danish; mid-late 60s. Still available, in fact, at Scandinavian Design. They were very, VERY popular throughout the 70s and I think they were very reasonable (and still aren't too bad either).

posted by davey on 2006-06-28 16:59:35

how come none of my thriftshops have lamps like that for $8?!

posted by jon on 2006-06-28 19:09:56

thanks, everyone for your input! as for the dinge factor, it was a pretty great mess before we cleaned it up, so it really is hard to say how old it might be. a couple pieces are warped, but nothing is torn or broken. in any case, we're excited to have it no matter what the great or not-so-great story is behind it...

posted by heather on 2006-06-29 08:36:43

hang it lower.
so you can see the other dinner guests above it... ha.

posted by lower on 2006-06-29 15:16:02

It looks exactly like one I got a few years ago at Urban Outfitters (and not the Gema one linked to above . . . mine has the same proportions as yours). I saw it featured in one of the first issues of Budget Living, and had to have it.

posted by Whitney on 2006-07-05 13:58:48

I just bought the exact same lamp on craigslist in vancouver bc, it's definitely a 'retro' item because the electric looks quite old...i love it because it's SO big and the light looks fabulous shining through it...i thought mine was a good deal at $30 canadian but i guess not...

posted by eva on 2006-12-20 15:45:36