Rare Model V312 Copper Sconces, Set of 2

The details are not the details. They make the design,” Charles Eames said, and this pair of wall sconces proves it. Four bands of brushed copper step outward, each a little wider than the one above, and that is the whole design. Model V312 was designed by Hans-Agne Jakobsson and made by AB Markaryd in Sweden in the 1960s, in copper with a soft rosy sheen. Switched on, each sconce sends a fan of light up the wall and another down, while a thin line of glow slips out between the tiers: a detail that makes the design.

Jakobsson worked from the small town of Markaryd in southern Sweden, and his lamps share one idea. The bulb stays hidden, and the light comes out gently, filtered through layers of metal, wood or fabric. The V312 brings that idea down to a few graduated rings. Overlapping cylinders shield the eye from glare and turn the copper itself into part of the light, warm and reflective. It belongs to Swedish modern design of the 1960s, when warm metals and soft, indirect light shaped the evening at home.

These two are entirely original, with no restoration. The copper carries small spots and fine marks from decades of use, a patina that gives the brushed surface depth where the light runs across it. Hang them either side of a bed or a sofa, or flanking a doorway in a hall, and they draw two warm columns on the wall. Later in the evening the whole room takes on the colour of the metal, a low amber glow that makes long conversations feel unhurried.