Stained Glass Book Lamp – Handmade Kiln-Fired Glass, Reading Light

A book-shaped lamp built from stained glass that is handmade and kiln-fired. Kiln firing is what fixes the color into the glass rather than onto it, so the colors are part of the material itself and cannot fade or lift the way a printed or filmed color eventually will. Because each one is made by hand, the lead lines and the cut of the panes differ from piece to piece.

Stained glass is a transmissive material, which makes this a fundamentally different object lit and unlit. Switched off, it is a colored glass ornament shaped like a book, read by whatever daylight falls on it. Switched on, the light comes from behind the glass and the colors saturate. The book form gives it two broad flat faces, so light is thrown out to the sides rather than up or down.

It suits a bedside table, a shelf, or a desk where it is seen close to — handmade glasswork rewards being near enough to pick out the cut lines. As a reading light it is a companion to a brighter source rather than the main one, since what it throws is colored rather than white.

• Material: Kiln-fired stained glass
• Construction: Handmade
• Form: Book-shaped table lamp