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A pair of acacia wood silk spools, or itomaki, handcrafted in Japan during the Taish? period (1912-1926), when silk production in Japan was still a cottage industry. They have been sensitively, and reversibly, repurposed as a pair of small table lamps, with new solid brass fittings and a bold vintage-style cable.

The lamps bear the marks of their industrial past, with knocks and bumps that add no small amount of individual character.

As spools, they are largely redundant, but as lamps they are fully functional, balanced, and take on a surprising mid-century aesthetic (perhaps revealing the inspiration for American-Japanese designer, Isamu Noguchi's, late 1940s wooden table lamps for Knoll that took on similar forms).

The lamps have been fitted with British made solid brass switched B22 bayonet bulb holders, and wired with a generous length of premium Italian double insulated 3-core cable with a vibrant vintage-style green Rayon braid to reflect the vibrant Japanese silks that would once have been spun on them.

Pair Early 20th Century Vintage Japanese Wooden Itomaki Silk Spool Table Lamps

SKU: l_0350
£220.00Price
  • Condition

    Marks to the wooden surface, as you'd expect with industrial objects. Stable, with no wobbles to the joints.

  • Measurements

    Height: 280 mm / 11.0"
    Width or Diameter: 180 mm / 7.1"

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