What makes a good desk light? Ten lamps with bright personalities

‘You’ve got a friend in me…’ sings Randy Newman, in the Oscar-winning toy-box-fearing romp, Toy Story. But although the song refers to the relationship between a young boy and his favourite toys, it could equally apply to another of Pixar Animation’s most iconic characters, the loveable Luxo Jr, seen hopping around the studio’s production logo.

Combining a stable base with an independently moveable arm and head may make anthropomorphic desk lamps more functional, but while size, position, brightness, temperature and the adjustability of all of the above are important features, what you really look for in someone to share a desk with, is a friend. Here are some of the friendliest desk light characters.

At 580mm tall, Mantra’s Nordic lamp stands on two splayed feet like a newborn bird, searching for its mother. The light’s wide base, thin wooden limbs and oversized head combine for a cute, childlike quality. Meanwhile, a translucent shade allows proud parents to see the light behind its eyes.

With clean lines and uncomplicated movement, Gubi’s Bestlite collection represents the refined elegance of the upper classes. Indeed, its form – significant of the Bauhaus period of which it was born – was chosen as Winston Churchill’s personal desk lamp, and would later go on to feature in both the V&A and Design Museum’s permanent collections.

Desk light characters, however, can’t all be attributed to Spice Girls. Although it’s indelicate to discuss matters of age, Anglepoise’s 90-year-old balanced-arm desk lamp was the design that kicked off the movement, so to speak. The engineered brilliance of its physics ensures the gravitational force of the shade weight is counteracted by the arms’ springs, making its head easy to manoeuvre.

Representing the functional design requirements of a contemporary workplace, Steelcase’s Eclipse light simultaneously adjusts angle and brightness to transform from task light to face-friendly ring light, attractively sculpting the user’s features by mimicking daylight and reducing shadow. A phone-gripping pad on its base, meanwhile, completes a quick video-call setup.

Koncept’s Z-Bar desk lamp with innovative through-table mount is perfect for smaller desktops with limited space. Z-Bar’s long, slim arms bend and fold into each other, or extend out to widen its reach. Like a small office dog, the flexible light brings a colourful energy into the workspace. Unlike a dog, however, Z-Bar’s presence is easy to control with touch-sensitive operation.

The CSYS task light is a masterpiece in engineering from Jake Dyson Light, its arms gently gliding and rotating across one another via a perfectly balanced wheeled system, asking for little more than a touch. Meanwhile, an aluminium heat sink dissipates heat from its eight LEDs, meaning the adjustable light keeps its power and position for longer.

Although they take up less space on the desktop, clamp lights often lose any visual weight-saving with a clunky and complicated form. With its pivoting magnetic grip, however, Haworth’s LIM Undersurface light is able to keep everything tucked away cleanly, retaining the super-minimalist look of its slim aluminium body.

With the ability to point one way, and look another, Regent Lighting’s Joker light aims to deceive in the most helpful way… providing well-defined, glare-free task light down onto the desktop, while standing up straight alongside it. Meaning the light source itself can stay out of its user’s way.

If we’re talking minimal occupancy lights that stay out of the way, how about De Vorm’s AK2 workplace divider, with a built-in task light that pretends not to be there at all. The colourful and playful acoustic panels absorb an LED lighting module that literally blends into the background.

With a rounded body and futuristic, almost magical levitating operation, Normann Copenhagen’s Acrobat lamp gets itself into any position or orientation using powerful magnets to hold itself. Its ability to cast diffused, omnidirectional light can focus task light close to the work surface, or spread softer ambient light above it.

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