This Unexpected Lamp Is So Nice, Two Designers Used It — Styled in Completely Unique Ways
My absolute favorite part of this year’s Small/Cool NYC? The vastly unique style approaches. We asked twelve designers to create their own 120-square-foot rooms using today’s top home trends — and no two spaces look anything alike. Miles Willis McDermott, for example, leaned into a monochromatic palette for his unlike-anything-you’ve-ever-seen “Wanderlust Fulfilled” area. Meanwhile, Jenny Pilant’s “Walls That Wow” dining room vignette is a whimsical riot of color, down to the table’s place settings. I can’t narrow down a favorite because each is packed with so many inspiring original details.
With that said, great design minds do think alike, and one decor item made an appearance in not one, but two Small/Cool rooms. Both Jessica Davis’ “Memphis Deco” and Jordan Ferney’s “Happy@Home” rooms featured the Kasa Table Lamp from Burke Decor (albeit styled in completely different ways), which arguably makes it the ultimate small space statement piece.
A top seller for a reason, this metal lamp stands apart from the rest with its cherry red hue alone. The sleek, clean-lined design is compact, and the narrow base and ultra-thin arm balance out the cool conical shade for one striking silhouette. Bright and bold, this may not be a light fixture you’d typically gravitate toward, but both Small/Cool designers prove it really can pair with any interior aesthetic.
Ferney positioned the piece on a side table beside a potted plant. Here, it marries well with more red pops of color on nearby pillows and picture frames. But that’s not to say your own home needs to match — the lamp plays perfectly off Ferney’s mustard-toned sofa and blue patterned wallpaper. In fact, Ferney explains in her audio tour that the “guiding principle in this room (and many of my other projects) is the color palette. It’s a direct avenue towards joy in your home.” If that’s not incentive to experiment with red decor, I don’t know what is.
Davis, on the other hand, combined looks from the 1980s Memphis Design movement and 1920s Art Deco designs, leaning into more primary tones and bursts of black. That’s especially evident with her asymmetric built-in structure, where she styled the lamp in the righthand corner below a fun wavy frameless mirror. It’s also set against multi-hued striped wallpaper, which allows the piece to blend in but still shine (pun intended) as a dominant focal point in the sitting room scene. “Detail is everything, and even small elements can come together to make the whole design of the room sing as something totally unique,” Davis adds.
No matter how you spin it, you can’t go wrong with the Kasa Table Lamp. And yes, it’s a definite splurge, but it’s a versatile conversation starter that would look pretty in any room, whatever the color scheme. You can even mix up the styling and placement as your tastes evolve, as evidenced by Ferney and Davis’ different takes.
Small/Cool NYC is a shoppable, in real life and digital home design showcase full of decorating tips and tricks from your favorite designers. Visit us from April 22 to May 15, 2022, on weekends (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) from 11 am to 7 pm ET at 515 Broadway in Soho, New York City. Check out our event schedule and the whole virtual experience online at smallcool.com and follow along on Instagram @apartmenttherapy. Thank you to our sponsors BEHR® Paint, Toyota Corolla Cross, Ashley, Yogi® Tea, and Chasing Paper for making this experience possible.