Vintage ‘Gothic Wall IIl’ Sculptural Brass Wall Lamp, Set of 2

Three pointed brass arches in a row, repeated twice. This pair of Scandinavian Modern wall sconces is the ‘Gothic III’ model, designed by Bent Karlby in 1970 and made by Lyfa in Denmark during the 1970s. Each sconce is built from curved sheets of brass that rise to fine points above and below, so even unlit they read as small pieces of wall sculpture.

The name says what Karlby had in mind. The tapering shades borrow the soaring silhouette of Gothic arches and spires, and he translated that old, vertical language into the crisp, graphic sheet metal of 1970s Danish lighting. The form does real work. Each shade hides its light source and sends it up and down the wall in two soft fans, while slim vertical slots let a line of gold glow through the metal. Lyfa built much of its name on this kind of considered, glare-free light, and the Gothic series remains one of its most recognisable designs.

The brushed brass has a warm, honeyed tone, softened by the marks of half a century, with the light catching in the hollows of each curve. Hang them on either side of a bed, a fireplace or a sideboard and the wall becomes part of the lamp, washed in amber above and below. In the evening the three points of each sconce turn into a row of small, glowing crowns.