7 Stylish Contemporary Lighting Trends for 2023
New looks at the recent ICFF trade event included ceramic, loopy, linear and folded designs
The decorative lighting offerings were numerous, diverse and creative at this year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and WantedDesign Manhattan trade event, held recently in New York. They encompassed barely there LED “wands,” brightly colored handmade ceramic lamps and myriad styles and moods in between.
Below, find out which design trends shone the brightest on the Javits Center floor. To illustrate the trends as well as the breadth of the offerings, we’ve included both industrially produced fixtures and one-of-a-kind designs. Some will be available at retail or through an interior designer; others may be purchased from the maker. Let there be light!
Below, find out which design trends shone the brightest on the Javits Center floor. To illustrate the trends as well as the breadth of the offerings, we’ve included both industrially produced fixtures and one-of-a-kind designs. Some will be available at retail or through an interior designer; others may be purchased from the maker. Let there be light!
Dumais Made
Connecticut-based studio Dumais Made nods to modernist sculpture with its clean-lined lamps and earthy glazes.
The surface texture of this slab-built stoneware Clark lamp was created with textured rolling pins and rods and accentuated with verdigris glaze. A hand-sewn cotton-string shade complements the base’s hand-built construction.
Shop for ceramic lamps on Houzz
Connecticut-based studio Dumais Made nods to modernist sculpture with its clean-lined lamps and earthy glazes.
The surface texture of this slab-built stoneware Clark lamp was created with textured rolling pins and rods and accentuated with verdigris glaze. A hand-sewn cotton-string shade complements the base’s hand-built construction.
Shop for ceramic lamps on Houzz
SIN
Coil building is yet another pottery-making technique. Virginia Sin, founder of the Brooklyn, New York-based studio SIN (whose ceramic work has been picked up by major retailers) plays with the form in her Lunar collection.
Matte white stoneware coils encircle the new tabletop version’s base, revolving like the moon around the Earth, Sin says.
All three of these ceramic studios’ designs can be purchased on their websites.
12 Terrific Interior Lighting Trends for 2023
Coil building is yet another pottery-making technique. Virginia Sin, founder of the Brooklyn, New York-based studio SIN (whose ceramic work has been picked up by major retailers) plays with the form in her Lunar collection.
Matte white stoneware coils encircle the new tabletop version’s base, revolving like the moon around the Earth, Sin says.
All three of these ceramic studios’ designs can be purchased on their websites.
12 Terrific Interior Lighting Trends for 2023
Koncept
2. Portable
Cute cordless portable lights, a few of which we saw last year, were even more popular this year. Many can be brought outside, which is convenient given that indoor-outdoor living is more popular than ever.
The soon-to-be-released Guy by Koncept, for example, is a rechargeable battery-powered LED light that can be used indoors and outdoors. The lantern has at least nine hours at full charge, as well as a charging base that turns it into a table lamp. Guy has optional decorative accessories, including the felt collar pictured here.
12 Trends in Contemporary Furniture for 2023
2. Portable
Cute cordless portable lights, a few of which we saw last year, were even more popular this year. Many can be brought outside, which is convenient given that indoor-outdoor living is more popular than ever.
The soon-to-be-released Guy by Koncept, for example, is a rechargeable battery-powered LED light that can be used indoors and outdoors. The lantern has at least nine hours at full charge, as well as a charging base that turns it into a table lamp. Guy has optional decorative accessories, including the felt collar pictured here.
12 Trends in Contemporary Furniture for 2023
Ameico
The cheerful-looking Verner Panton Flowerpot from &Tradition is among the most recognizable Danish designs from the 1960s. Ameico, &Tradition’s U.S. distributor, displayed a portable indoor-outdoor version at ICFF. The widely available molded-polycarbonate lamp comes in multiple modern colors and is fitted with an integrated LED and a USB charging cable.
Shop for thousands of on-trend lighting designs on Houzz
The cheerful-looking Verner Panton Flowerpot from &Tradition is among the most recognizable Danish designs from the 1960s. Ameico, &Tradition’s U.S. distributor, displayed a portable indoor-outdoor version at ICFF. The widely available molded-polycarbonate lamp comes in multiple modern colors and is fitted with an integrated LED and a USB charging cable.
Shop for thousands of on-trend lighting designs on Houzz
D’Armes
3. Loopy
Freed from the heat and bulkiness of incandescent lightbulbs, integrated LED-powered lights have revolutionized decorative lighting. Now lighting fixtures can be thin, flexible and lightweight — as seen in the squiggly and loop-the-loop designs shown at ICFF and WantedDesign.
One such light was this RA wall sconce by D’Armes, a Canadian design company whose lights (including two sizes of RA) are available to purchase online. What looks like a rope of ambient light is actually an LED tube encapsulated in hand-bent glass. It hangs from a disc available in a variety of finishes, including shiny 12-karat gold.
3. Loopy
Freed from the heat and bulkiness of incandescent lightbulbs, integrated LED-powered lights have revolutionized decorative lighting. Now lighting fixtures can be thin, flexible and lightweight — as seen in the squiggly and loop-the-loop designs shown at ICFF and WantedDesign.
One such light was this RA wall sconce by D’Armes, a Canadian design company whose lights (including two sizes of RA) are available to purchase online. What looks like a rope of ambient light is actually an LED tube encapsulated in hand-bent glass. It hangs from a disc available in a variety of finishes, including shiny 12-karat gold.
Luke Lamp
The Tracer Loop collection from Luke Lamp, which can be ordered directly from the company, took loopiness to the extreme with its flexible, illuminated, cordlike lights. They come with predesigned or custom layouts, or you can choose an open-ended version that can wrap around your own existing or custom-fabricated frame (not included), as seen here.
20 Dining Rooms With Chic Chandeliers and Pendant Lights
The Tracer Loop collection from Luke Lamp, which can be ordered directly from the company, took loopiness to the extreme with its flexible, illuminated, cordlike lights. They come with predesigned or custom layouts, or you can choose an open-ended version that can wrap around your own existing or custom-fabricated frame (not included), as seen here.
20 Dining Rooms With Chic Chandeliers and Pendant Lights
Pablo
4. Linear
Contrasting with the loopy, organically shaped and playful lighting designs at ICFF were sleek tubular and columnar forms, many with customizable configurations.
The T.O pendant by San Francisco studio Pablo Designs, for example, enables users to mix and match different colored suspension belts with skinny light “wands” in a variety of finishes. Shown in a stack of two here, the individual wands can rotate 360 degrees to create ambient or task lighting, depending on your needs.
4. Linear
Contrasting with the loopy, organically shaped and playful lighting designs at ICFF were sleek tubular and columnar forms, many with customizable configurations.
The T.O pendant by San Francisco studio Pablo Designs, for example, enables users to mix and match different colored suspension belts with skinny light “wands” in a variety of finishes. Shown in a stack of two here, the individual wands can rotate 360 degrees to create ambient or task lighting, depending on your needs.
A-N-D
Canadian brand A-N-D’s Column series features faceted glass cylinders or “modules” that can be combined vertically in modules of one to six or horizontally in modules of three to six. Available as pendants, like those pictured here, or new table or floor lamps, they come in clear or ivory and are available through select U.S. retailers.
Canadian brand A-N-D’s Column series features faceted glass cylinders or “modules” that can be combined vertically in modules of one to six or horizontally in modules of three to six. Available as pendants, like those pictured here, or new table or floor lamps, they come in clear or ivory and are available through select U.S. retailers.
Olivia Barry
5. Folded
Whether folded sharply like an origami crane or gently like a pile of ribbon, folded lighting designs abounded at ICFF this year.
Designer Olivia Barry, who’s based in New York’s Hudson Valley, folds and drapes ceramic slabs to create minimalist fixtures (like this Illuminated Leaf wall sconce) that emit a soft glow. Contact Barry for purchase information.
5. Folded
Whether folded sharply like an origami crane or gently like a pile of ribbon, folded lighting designs abounded at ICFF this year.
Designer Olivia Barry, who’s based in New York’s Hudson Valley, folds and drapes ceramic slabs to create minimalist fixtures (like this Illuminated Leaf wall sconce) that emit a soft glow. Contact Barry for purchase information.
Liam McClure
Liam H. McClure hand-bends and -folds perforated sheet metal to create his one-of-a-kind table lamps, making the industrial material look as soft and sheer as chiffon. He notes in his product description that the perforations in the overlapping sections create a moire effect that changes depending on where the observer stands.
McClure was a participant in WantedDesign’s Launch Pad series, which showcases emerging designers’ prototypes and new concepts.
Liam H. McClure hand-bends and -folds perforated sheet metal to create his one-of-a-kind table lamps, making the industrial material look as soft and sheer as chiffon. He notes in his product description that the perforations in the overlapping sections create a moire effect that changes depending on where the observer stands.
McClure was a participant in WantedDesign’s Launch Pad series, which showcases emerging designers’ prototypes and new concepts.
Stackabl
6. Felted
Designs that promote wellness and accessibility are hot right now, and soft, tactile materials are also on-trend. Given that loud spaces are irritating, especially for those with auditory sensitivity, lighting designs that incorporated soft, sound-dampening materials — especially felt — looked both stylish and smart. One could imagine these in a loud workplace or restaurant (their primary market), but they’d work just as well as in an echoey open-concept home.
For example, the customizable Stackabl pendant lights (including this Arcilla collection) are made of upcycled felted merino wool, cast acrylic, post-consumer aluminum and dimmable LED lights.
6. Felted
Designs that promote wellness and accessibility are hot right now, and soft, tactile materials are also on-trend. Given that loud spaces are irritating, especially for those with auditory sensitivity, lighting designs that incorporated soft, sound-dampening materials — especially felt — looked both stylish and smart. One could imagine these in a loud workplace or restaurant (their primary market), but they’d work just as well as in an echoey open-concept home.
For example, the customizable Stackabl pendant lights (including this Arcilla collection) are made of upcycled felted merino wool, cast acrylic, post-consumer aluminum and dimmable LED lights.
Shimmer Studio
7. Funky
Our final few one-of-a-kind lamps may not make their way to big-box retailers or into your average home. But given how design trends tend to trickle down, echoes of their free-spirited shapes and colors might.
These playful ceramic lamps and forms were made by Shimmer Studio founder Yuxing Zhang, a Chinese-Canadian artist and designer based in Toronto. Each lamp has handmade lumps and bumps that make it unique, and Shimmer wasn’t the only studio showing organically shaped, somewhat blobby forms topped with round bulbs.
7. Funky
Our final few one-of-a-kind lamps may not make their way to big-box retailers or into your average home. But given how design trends tend to trickle down, echoes of their free-spirited shapes and colors might.
These playful ceramic lamps and forms were made by Shimmer Studio founder Yuxing Zhang, a Chinese-Canadian artist and designer based in Toronto. Each lamp has handmade lumps and bumps that make it unique, and Shimmer wasn’t the only studio showing organically shaped, somewhat blobby forms topped with round bulbs.
Natan Moss
Santa Fe, New Mexico, ceramist Natan Moss made these wheel-thrown Maurice floor lamps and table, which have an intriguing shaggy texture.
10 Trends in Contemporary Lighting for 2022
Santa Fe, New Mexico, ceramist Natan Moss made these wheel-thrown Maurice floor lamps and table, which have an intriguing shaggy texture.
10 Trends in Contemporary Lighting for 2022
Daniel Shapiro
The ICFF Editors Award for lighting went to Daniel Shapiro, who builds his sculptural, one-of-a-kind extruded and hand-thrown stoneware pieces in his St. Louis studio.
Shapiro’s 10-bulb chandelier features an illuminated globe at the bottom and nine recessed bulbs housed in 24-karat gold-lustered cups.
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The ICFF Editors Award for lighting went to Daniel Shapiro, who builds his sculptural, one-of-a-kind extruded and hand-thrown stoneware pieces in his St. Louis studio.
Shapiro’s 10-bulb chandelier features an illuminated globe at the bottom and nine recessed bulbs housed in 24-karat gold-lustered cups.
More on Houzz
Read more industry show and fair recaps
Find a pro for your project
Shop for new lighting
1. Ceramic
The popularity of handcrafted and “perfectly imperfect” finishes coincides with a pottery boom in recent seasons. At the fair, we saw a wide assortment of ceramic light fixtures by both established studios and emerging designers — even wider than at last year’s fair. The forms reflected a variety of pottery-making techniques and artistic sensibilities.
This Dixon sconce from Nebraska-based Pax Lighting is made from glazed slip-cast terra cotta and hand-finished, precision-machined brass.
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