Saturday June 8, 5:30-9 pm

Solano Avenue Art Walk + Lamp Shade Exhibit and Farewell party for Jill Lawrence, lampshade maker extraordinaire.

Jill Lawrence is retiring, and we're having a farewell party Saturday, June 8, 6-9 pm

Stop in and say good bye

Come join us Saturday evening June 8, during the Solano Avenue Art Walk, to celebrate Jill's retirement. In conjunction with the Solano Avenue Art Walk we have assembled a group of Jill Lawrence's beautiful lamp shades to acknowledge her contribution to the aesthetic of the shop, her discerning eye and high level of craft.
Join us for light refreshments, a chance to visit with Jill, appreciate her art and wish her well in her new life.

Some of our favorite Jill Lawrence Decorative Parchment Paper Shades (see more on our Facebook page)
For more about the evening Art Walk, go to: Solano Avenue Art Walk

Our collections of special lamps and shades are as eclectic and wonderful as the shop itself.

This is a celebration of our unique lamps, and an acknowledgment of the artists, known and unknown, who have crafted the wide assortment of pieces we turn into our lamps.

Sue Johnson and Lynn Duncan find most of the pieces that we use, but people also bring us their treasured, or found, objects, and Hank Schmutz or Jorge Villegas, our wiring staff, transform them into one-of-a-kind lamps. Being part of this creative process is another thing that keeps our work particularly interesting and unique.

When we take the time to listen, these objects speak to us; we can admire the detailed craftsmanship, the surprising use of materials, the expression in the bodies of the carved birds, the rendering of a leaf... for a brief instant, time stands still.

It's a pleasure to design and make shades for these special lamps.

New hand blown fine art Glass Lamps »

TL 284 Hand-blown Green Glass Lamp with light in base, Mica lamp shade with natural Green Maidenhair Fern
We are thrilled to present this striking combination, with the rich mottled greens of the Lindsay Art Glass base and Hope Wingert’s amber mica shade with green natural maidenhair fern, all topped with a green glass finial. The lamp base has a light inside; the 3-way switch allows you to illuminate the base only, the shade only, or both together as in the photograph.

TL 285 a & b Hearts Galore and Hearts for You Art Glass Lamps with Mica Lamp shades
Sue asked David Lindsay, of Lindsay Art Glass, to blow some vases decorated with hearts and he created these two lovely variations – one with small hearts and few veins, the other with a few larger hearts and more veins. Sue designed and made shades that reflect that variation. The golden lamp bases are lit from within; the 3-way switch allows you to illuminate the base only, the shade only or both together as shown in the photograph.

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See all our lighting collections below...

Urban Sketchers visit the lamp shop

There are Urban Sketchers around the world! We were thrilled to have them come to the lamp shop to sketch, and love seeing the shop through their eyes and pens. Thanks to the artists! Visit our Facebook page to see the whole album of sketches and visit the Urban Sketchers San Francisco Bay Area blog.

Cristina Siegerist Ceinwen Carney Cathy McAuliffe Sonia Tamez Cathy McAuliffe

NATURE+ART Lighting COLLECTIONS

Our lamps and lampshades reflect the tastes, interests, and creativity of Sue and her entire staff. The most basic unifying theme is the the combination of Nature + Art. This places us squarely in the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement. Wood, metal, stone, glass, clay, mica, paper, and natural leaves are recurring materials used in our unique lamps and shades.

Orange Table Lamps, Bat Lamps & Lamps with Fall Leaves »

Bat lamps, extravagantly orange lamps, and lamps and shades aglow with autumn colors. Bats from the ceiling, bats on the walls and bats on your table. Add colorful Autumn leaves drifting around golden lampshades and our latest collaboration with glass artist David Lindsay and you have our Fall Celebration Collection.

beautiful CloisonnÉ and ChamplevÉ Lamps »

Cloisonne and Champleve are terms that describe techniques for applying colorful enamels to metal.

Antique Metal Table Lamps »

Antique metal vessels have always had special appeal to us. We are savor their detailed work and graceful design. This collection of antique metal lamps features brass table lamps with a tropical, Asian feel - a fabulous parrot, lotus leaves, bamboo, gourds, bats, vining plants.

See the Antique Metal Lamps >

Rustic Lighting »

These vintage burl lamps, owl lamps, and woodland creatures will fill your home with an elegant rustic style.

See the Rustic Lamps >

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Our classic Craftsman and Arts & Crafts lighting includes both hand-crafted wooden lamps in the Prairie tradition, with complementary mica shades, and hammered copper and brass lamps. Among the designs in mica that are particularly well suited to Craftsman interiors are the Windowpane series and the Lines & Squares group, both of which are shown on the site on table and floor lamps and as ceiling or wall lighting. In addition to these contemporary pieces, we often have antiques, particularly European Trench Art and American Heintz Art Metal. We show some of these pieces on our site to illustrate the kinds of work we do in designing special lampshades for these wonderful lamps. We are happy to send digital photos, with size and price information, of any antique pieces available in the shop, or to work with you to turn your piece into a custom lamp. Please contact us to discuss your project before sending anything to us.

See the Arts & Crafts Lamps >

See the Copper Lamps >

See the Mica Lamp Shades >

ART GLASS Lamps

In recent years we have developed relationships with several local glass artists and have wired their wonderful and distinctive pieces into spectacular lamps. These Art Glass Lamps have lights inside their bases, with the three-way switch illuminating the base alone, the shade alone, or both together. We show these lamps with mica lampshades, hand paper-cut lampshades, and parchment paper shades with Japanese Tsuru paper borders. In our 2008 Collection we introduced our newest series with Lindsay Art Glass and Sue’s inspired, colorful mica shades. Sue also purchases, when available, antique Art Glass pieces, notably Phoenix glass, which are similarly lighted inside and completed with appropriate shades.

See more Fine Art Glass Lamps - Blown glass art lighting>

Our art glass lamps took second place in the Functional Art category at the Sausalito Art Festival! We're thrilled and honored to participate in this prestigious Art Show.

ART POTTERY Arts and Crafts

American Art Pottery forms another part of our Arts and Crafts collection. We make lamps from the work of Ephraim Faience, Door, and Lonesomeville potteries and complete them with mica, hand-painted paper, and hand cut-paper lampshades. Again, we occasionally have antique Art Pottery pieces, both American and European.

See more Art Pottery Arts and Crafts Lamps >

AFRICAN CARVINGS AND TEXTILES

Sue began the lamp shop in 1972 after her service in Africa, in the Peace Corps, and we have made lamps and lampshades from African carvings and African textiles since that time. One of the difficulties of showing these on our site is that each piece is a distinct and unique piece of art. We do have a wonderful selection of African art lamps and Kuba cloth shades in the lamp shop and are happy to send digital photos along with size and price information upon request. Since Sue designed the ceiling and wall lights with African imagery we can offer these as shown or can adapt the designs for other projects. We also feature an African Marriage Stick floor lamp, where the carved sticks are more similar than most other carvings.

See African Lamps lighting >

We have small lamps made with colorful beaded insect lamps, carved wooded slingshots and pulleys, ancestral combs and tall masks. Visit the shop to see these one-of-a-kind items, and to see how we can present pieces from your collection of ethnic treasures into lamps.

ASIAN THEMES AND STYLES

The art and design of Asia — its imagery, forms, and materials — are an important part of the American Arts and Crafts tradition. Sue has an abiding interest in antique cloisonné and champs levée, netsuke, bamboo vessels, and baskets. We have a wonderful selection of one-of-a-kind antique pieces at the shop. Our Asian style offerings on the web at the moment are items and designs that we can re-create on a continuing basis. These include a beautiful series of Japanese metal lamps and mica shades with hand-cut mulberry designs that echo the bases. We also show a number of bamboo lamps, some with traditional carvings and some with contemporary styling, and a beautiful contemporary Asian-style raku pot in red or gold.

See more Asian lamps and lighting & Asian Lamp Shades >

Bird Lamps and Bird Lamp Shades

We've also collected many of the bird lamps or shades from our site and put them onto one page. These bird lamps cross all of our design collections, and originate from all corners of the globe. You'll find sculptural bird lamps in metal and ceramic with cut paper and mica bird lamp shades. We also have many one-of-a-kind carved bird lamps at the shop.

See Bird Lamps and Bird Lamp Shades >

Heintz Art Metal Lamp Collection »

The Heintz Art Metal Shop was renowned in its time for its patented solderless sterling-on-bronze technique and its high level of craft and design. Their work continues to inspire, and is held in high regard in the Arts & Crafts community. We have made a multitude of lamps from Heintz wares, and have adapted the cut designs for mica ceiling lights and sconces.

See more Heintz Art Metal Lamp Collection >

Metallic Glazed Pottery Lamps from David Ross »

A new series of hand-thrown metal-glazed pieces from David Ross Ceramics, in Sonoma, CA, inspired by hand-hammered copper and brass vessels. We are thrilled to introduce him.

See more Metallic Glazed Pottery Lamps >

PERSONAL VISION

One group of designs that has emerged is, perhaps, best characterized as personal visions, certainly a term that could apply to Sue’s Blazing, Brilliant Skies — a continually evolving group of shades that come and go from the shop before any formal portrait of them appears and would not be easy to duplicate exactly. This series began life several years ago as a group of custom ceiling shades evoking Desert Sunsets and has continued to expand. It now forms not only the basis of her newest shades, inspired by Art Glass pieces, it also includes more tones of sky and of emotion — from highly intense to calm and tranquil.

In keeping with the tradition of the Arts and Crafts movement we share and support the commitment to combining function and beauty in our surroundings, of using our local flora and fauna as inspiration in our designs, as well as learning to appreciate the design heritage that we encounter in the arts and crafts that Sue purchases to turn into our unique, eclectic and even inspired lighting.

SOUTHWESTERN Lighting

In addition to the copper and brass lamps mentioned above, we have several pine cone table and floor lamps. These are all well suited to our Southwestern or rustic lampshade designs, such as the Anasazi and Lightning borders and Pine bough design. Sue loves carved stone, bone, and antler animals (especially bears) and we have created special shades for them. Because we design and make all of our lamps and shades, we have tremendous versatility. We can adapt designs from your home or your lamps to use in shades; mica, hand-painted paper, and paper-cut lampshades can all be custom ordered.

See more Southwestern lighting >

Trench Art Lamps

Mary Shilman created the curved mica lampshade specifically for this one-of-a-kind Trench Art lamp. The base of the lamp is a spent artillery shell left behind after World War I. Generally they were worked by recovering soldiers; a form of art therapy using available, "free" materials.

See Trench Art Lamps >