LED Mushroom Table Lamp

The mushroom lamp came out of 1970s Italian design and has stayed popular for a simple reason: the domed shade covers the light source completely, so you never see a bulb, only a lit surface. This LED version keeps that silhouette and swaps the guts for something far more efficient.

The dome sits low over a wide base, which throws light outward and down onto the surface the lamp is standing on rather than up into the room. On a bedside table that means a pool of warm light on your book and nothing shining into your eyes; on a shelf or a console it means a soft glow that reads as ambience rather than illumination.

The shape does a lot of decorative work when it is off, too. It is a recognizable form with clean lines, so it holds its own next to plants and picture frames. The integrated LED runs cool, uses very little power, and lasts long enough that replacing it is not something to plan for. It plugs straight in with no assembly required.

• Domed shade fully conceals the light source
• Warm downward glow, no glare at eye level
• Integrated LED, cool running and low power draw
• Sculptural silhouette that works switched off
• Plug-in: no wiring or assembly required