Experimenting with Shrooms

For my first post, I’m going with the OG design theme ‘let there be light.' Enter the Mushroom Lamp.

A statement-making mushroom lamp seen in a recent Architectural Digest Hamptons home tour designed by Heidi Caillier, shot by Haris Kenjar, and styled by Mieke ten Have. Snag similar here.

Never underestimate the power of light fixtures and lamps and, more, the ambient light they can cast, to truly transform your space. It always blows my mind just how many table lamps a home really needs [hint: turn off your overhead light — you should be able to illuminate the room by lamplight alone]. In that relentless search for more, better lamps, there’s one nod-to-nature profile that keeps catching my eye. Mushroom lamps are no longer an interiors novelty item. The 1970s-reminiscent table lamp silhouette feels more in than ever. There’s something about this groovy shape that maintains that perfect-pop-of-quirky feel. Read on for my roundup of lamps to love (at a true range of price points) and other fungi touches I’ve added to my home. ‘Tis the foraging season!

MODERN CERAMIC MARVELS

Real footage of my @ceramicah.la Instagram saves from years ago.

One of the first lamps that I remember truly, madly, deeply falling in love with was a mushroom lamp I met on Instagram. Behold the earthy, handmade sculptural pieces by Los Angeles ceramic studio Ceramicah. I particularly swoon for the Tera Lamp Stripe and the Tera Lamp Lime Plaster. This is just the kind of modern accent that would take my traditional-meets-bohemian home to the next level. GAH! I love it. The price starts at $1,035.

As seen in Architectural Digest; design by Olivia Williams, photographed by Henry Bourne, styled by Michael Reynolds.

On the more literal, organic front is the now-iconic Atelier MVM Mushroom lamp. I’ve seen this lamp around in its various colors and finishes and thought, “damn, that’s good.” But when I zoomed in on the Matthias Vriens 22-Karat-Gold-Glazed Shroom Lamp for Atelier MVM ($4,500) in this AD Notting Hill home tour, my jaw dropped. Styled in the kitchen, too!  My maternal-inherited passion for table lamps on kitchen counters met my obsession with mushrooms and pops of gold; I just could not handle it! Snag a celadon glazed version here.

1970s MURANO GLASS

As seen on 1stDibs by sellers, linked below.

For fellow vintage scavengers, there’s a wide and wonderful forest of mushroom lamps on good-ole’-reliable 1stDibs and I’d like to take a moment to highlight this fabulous vintage Murano glass swirl number in PINK, no less. If you don’t know, now you know I’m a pink girlie. If this is your vibe too, you can find similarly dazzling options here and here and here. I’ll leave price out of the equation as you can find a range and, of course, you should bid down.

[A note to those of you who are overwhelmed by the secondary sellers such as 1stDibs, Chairish, and (dare I say) Facebook Marketplace: a search like “mushroom lamp” or “Murano glass mushroom lamp” is just the amount of specificity you need to yield a manageable amount of browsing. My approach on bidding is to start with an offer 30-50% below ask — anchoring, baby! — and expect the seller to agree to 15-25% below ask.]

[UN]PLUG AND PLAY

An image from Lumens, linked, in the Dark Plum colorway currently on our living room desk and a similar shade on the tables of Fleming by le Bilboquet as seen on their Instagram.

Congratulations! You’ve read far enough to reach the accessible luxury section of this post, aka the version I actually own. I love the hit of color (available in a range of 14 shades), sleek design, and cordless potential of the Flowerpot VP9 Rechargeable Table Lamp by Verner Panton for &Tradition. I also love the price (starting at $315 and currently on sale). I was turned on to this model as a desk lamp by my dear friend and interior designer Sarah Lyons. I also noticed that a local eatery, Fleming by le Bilboquet (where I once dined next to Ina Garten AND Jeffrey), uses this cordless for their dinner table lighting — genius! Something you could replicate at home, indoor or out.

My in-store snapshot and ABC Home’s version.

In the middle of writing this post, I took a trip upstate with my family and stopped in an elegant home boutique in Rhinebeck called Hammertown on the recommendation of the impeccable Caroline Rooney Serrano. There, I spotted a charming glass wireless LED mushie, snapped above. While I cannot find this piece on their site, I found a similar option for $100 on ABC Home (along with numerous other mushroom lamps I like, but less). And I found another, even more similar looking option for just $28 here, though I’m not familiar with this site.

If shrooms are a bit out of your comfort zone, but you’re still looking for a small nod to the plant, I love this Mini Mushroom Light ($13) as a nursery or kids’ bath night light. It reads more cartoon-woodland-forest than chic-ganja-den.

NOTEWORTHY SHROOMS CHEZ MOI

As pictured by sellers, linked below.

As the owner of a truffle-hunting bred Lagotto Romagnolo dog, perhaps my affinity for mushrooms is excessive. Looking for more morels? You can spot several around our home from my son’s laundry basket to my collection of John Derian x Astier de Villatte decoupage saucers (such as this and this — each one is different) and this perfect-for-fall set of placemats and napkins.

MUSHROOM ADJACENT

As pictured on Scully & Scully.

I recently brought my two-and-a-half year old into Scully & Scully with me on a comp shopping expedition — not advised! We were the only people shopping there aside from Mark D. Sikes, who looked at me (while surveying the surrounding breakables) like I was either the bravest design-dedicated mother in the world, or a lady who lacked all reasonable judgement. We will never now. Either way, I stumbled upon this Sea Urchin Table Lamp ($3,675) that truly defies description. You might say I was left in a purple haze. I’ve never seen anything like this lamp, and it NEEDS to find a knockout home. Probably in Palm Beach?

And now, forage on! Goodnight and good luck.