Someone is going to come up with a way better answer than mine, but try fitting it together, taping it on the inside, and using a thick epoxy or rubber cement to try to seal it up, then just turn away the crack from view.

Honestly there isn't much you can do, while you can try and mend it and just turn the crack away from view, any sort of epoxy or tape will alter the shadow it emits greatly...I would suggest trying to find another light that is similar or the same...scour ebay and craigslist...you never know what you might find!

Wow, breaks my heart. I would try with the folks at Modernica.net (323) 933 0383
Good luck!

The crack is really beautiful in its own way. If it can't be fixed like new, I might try fixing it to the frame as well as possible and gluing inside a contrasting layer of rice paper. The light coming through the crack could be a gorgeous effect!

OUCH! oh.... I feel your pain....

http://www.moonshineshades.com/

I have not personally used them, but have read great reviews about their work.

They specialize in vintage lighting and sell a variety of reissued Nelson bubble lamps.
They also "refurbish"...maybe they can fix it.

Good luck.

Yeah, I bet it can't really be repaired to like-new, but you could maybe use some pretty thread to sew up the crack, as a feature, or if you didn't like that, remove the plastic entirely and go back over the whole thing with some rice paper for an almost-as-good-as-new look. Too bad!

R.I.P.

P.S. don't try to fix it yourself....anything you do, will most likely make it worse.

you can also try http://www.deadlynightshades.com/
but again, no personal experience with them.

there is a man out here in LA at the Modernica showroom who does repairs on the side, but he is very tough to get a hold of. You are in DC, but if you call their showroom and get a hold of him, maybe he can refer you to someone in your area...

If nothing works, take it to a seamstress, and bring some inspiration from one of Zaha Hadid's projects:
http://edwardlifson.blogspot.com/2009/07/zahas-pavilion.html

white stockings

I think you're out of luck...

Don't know how far along you are yet, I'd check the repair options first. If that is a bust then I'd follow the advice of lemonadefish. Just reinforce the back side of the shade and preunch many holes for a thread up. Often I find that when something tragic like this happens it breeds a creative adaptation that can be even more poetic and real than a prized original can offer. If, and only if, you do a top notch job you may just end up with a piece that would be just that much more original! I'm interested to see what comes of this!

I might suggest a "wabi sabi" solution, which seems in harmony with the Japanese style of the lamp. I wonder if the break might be joined together and then accented by silver metallic paint. While not quite the same thing, you can get an idea of the affect by checking out Jeffrey Bilhuber's recent redo of his bedroom, where he accented Chinese wallpaper with gold paint.

Buy a plastic chicken (or even better,an Alien figurine) and attach the lower half of the body inside the lamp so that it appears to be crawling out of a hatched egg. Guaranteed conversation starter.

What about taking off the shade altogether and using a cool bulb (edison style?) inside the cage?

Hi there everyone! Thanks for all of the suggestions on what to do about my lamp. I haven't tried doing anything yet- Apartment Therapy was super quick about posting this (Thanks AT!).

I'm going to try contacting some people about "fixing" it before anything. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

If the plastic can't be repaired, it seems to me that the frame could easily be recovered. You could use strips of paper or fabric with decoupage glue. It could even be an opportunity to make it a different color.

i'm wondering if there has been a solution to this problem? I'm in the same boat, and am thinking of subsituting the plastic with fabric -- possible?