Birken Table Lamp

A Bauhaus table lamp with a 1930s silhouette

The Birken is a Bauhaus table lamp built from three simple shapes: a glossy metal shade, a slender curved stem and a weighted round base that swivels. At 42.5cm tall it has the proportions of a classic desk lamp, compact enough for a desk or larger bedside table but with enough presence to anchor a sideboard or study.

Kaiser Idell-style design in four colours

If you've been searching for a Kaiser Idell-style lamp, a Bauhaus desk lamp or a 1930s table lamp, the Birken takes its cues from Christian Dell's modernist designs: clean geometry, a glossy finish and a shade shaped to direct light where you need it. Piano Black is the classic study-lamp look, Scarlet Red and Forest Green add a confident pop of colour, and Ivory White keeps things light and minimal. The Birken is Lamp Boy's own design and isn't made by or affiliated with Fritz Hansen.

Focused light for reading and working

A single E26/E27 LED bulb, included in the box, sits inside the metal shade, which directs a warm, focused glow downward rather than across the whole room. That makes the Birken a natural desk lamp for reading, writing and working, and a bedside lamp that keeps light where you need it. The base swivels and the head adjusts, so you can angle the light onto a book, a keyboard or the corner of a sideboard. A push-button switch on the base turns it on and off. Our guide Desk Lamps That Don't Feel Office-y has more ideas for warm workspace lighting.

How to style a Bauhaus lamp

The Birken suits mid-century and modernist interiors and sits well with walnut, leather, chrome and stacks of books. Pair Piano Black or Ivory White with a timber desk for a classic study look, or use Scarlet Red or Forest Green as a single accent colour against neutral walls. For more ideas, read How to Style Your Space with Mid Century Lamps or Red Lamps: Burgundy vs Bright Red.

Where the Birken works best

• A desk or home office that needs focused task light
• A bedside table for evening reading
• A sideboard, console or bookshelf in a mid-century living room

For another metal lamp with bold colour, see the Bremen Table Lamp; for a geometric metal shade, the Lustro Table Lamp. Browse our mid-century and retro lamp collection or all table lamps.