Glass & Brass Wall lamps ‘Gefion’, Set of 2

A pair of Scandinavian Modern wall sconces, the ‘Gefion’ model designed by Carl Fagerlund for Orrefors and Lyfa in Sweden in the 1960s. Each is a curved sheet of heavily textured glass on a brass backplate, its scalloped top and bottom edges catching the light like the rim of melting ice. Both are all original and marked with the Lyfa label.

At Orrefors, Fagerlund brought the glassworks’ feeling for thick, luminous glass to lighting, and the Gefion shows that thinking clearly. Instead of a smooth diffuser, he gave the glass a deep relief of soft, rounded cells crossed by a fine grid, so it breaks up the light and reads as pure texture even when switched off. This is Swedish design of the period at its warmest, where the material does the decorating and the form stays simple, a gently bowed panel held by two small brass pins.

The glass carries a soft champagne tint that turns to honey once the lamps are lit, with clearer pools where the light gathers in the centre. Above and below, a pale wash of light spills across the wall. Hang them on either side of a bed or a mirror and they give a room a warm, candlelit mood in the evening. In a hallway or beside a fireplace they glitter by day and glow by night, two small pieces of Swedish winter light.