Lantern Lore and Literature: 13 Lurid Lights
CURATED
Add Some Designer Lighting Dread to Your Halloween
Spooooooooooky
One of our favourite Halloween traditions--aside from the ritual extortion of candy from complete strangers, of course--is the ghost story. And there's no better way to tell tales of terror and suspense to wide-eyed friends than by the flicker of a jack-o'-lantern's light. In honour of this timeless symbol of Halloween fun, we're taking a look at the history of lanterns in horror.
Sometimes friendly, sometimes fiendish, the jack-o'lantern is a time-honoured tradition
Lanterns are a familiar trope in horror--if only because things that go "bump" often prefer to do so in the dark of night. From folklore to film, lanterns have served as dangers and defenders through the long history of human imagination. Here are a few of our favourites.
The Muse Outdoor Portable Table Lamp from Tala
We begin with The Muse outdoor portable table lamp, a recent release from Tala. Designed in cooperation with Farrow & Ball, The Muse features a retro-technological character evocative of lanterns used as railway signal-lights from the Victorian era.
At once rustic and refined, Tala's The Muse lantern suits a wide range of design styles
Without the aid of wireless technology, railway lines in Victorian Britain could communicate with trains only through manned signal-boxes across the countryside. Telegraphed messages would be passed to and from trains by signal-men by hanging flags and lanterns in view. Timely and accurate transmission of messages was imperative to prevent disastrous collisions … such as the one witnessed by the ill-fated titular character in Charles Dickens' "The Signal-Man" despite supernatural warnings.
The Muse portable table light makes a welcome companion at home, on the deck, or out in the world
We trust that, with its clean lines and refined industrial character, The Muse portable table light from Tala will help you remain more alert and conscientious of danger than Dickens' character… but, then, who knows what the spirits have in store for you?
In Vitro Unplugged from Flos
In Vitro Unplugged adds portable convenience to the clean, sleek lines of the In Vitro family of designer lights
Possibly one of the earliest forms of lantern developed was the great signal-lantern that would become, in time, the lighthouse. Signal-fires needed to be immune to the elements so that they could both serve as a beacon for those seeking port in storms and warn them off of rocky shoals upon which their ships might wreck.
Indeed, there is something nautical about Flos' new portable addition to the In Vitro collection, In Vitro Unplugged portable outdoor table lamp. Its form is simple, refined, but evocative of the sea, calling to mind the the Cornelius de Witt out of Rotterdam, and the lighthouse keepers whose lives it changed on Three Skeleton Key.
In the short story of the same name, Three Skeleton Key is located along a rocky shoal off the coast of Guiana. Its three occupants are entirely cut-off from civilization, leaving them helpless when the lighthouse's beam falls upon the approaching merchant vessel Cornelius de Witt--derelict and adrift, and occupied only by thousands of ravenous rats who devoured the crew and are desperate for fresh meat.
Muse Lantern Battery Table from Contardi
Nautical lanterns need not have such grim associations, however. With a classic "lantern" form, Contardi's Muse Lantern Battery recalls the pirate ports of Port Royal and Tortuga. You may remember Tortuga from the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, but it was a real port used as a stronghold and safe haven for pirates from about the seventeenth century.
Contardi's Muse family of lights includes a wide variety of options, including the portable Muse Lantern Battery
Another element of the Pirates film franchise drawn from reality was the concept of a 'pirate code.' Far from the double-dealing and underhanded "guidelines" presented in the films, however, most real pirate codes were--although brutal--extremely strict, democratic, fair, and concerned with the welfare of ships and their crews.
Along with regulations about shares of loot and general conduct, some codes included safety regulations such as the prohibition of any lights other than lanterns below deck to minimize the risk of fire. Thus, should any of you have the sudden urge to pursue a midlife career change and sail the seas, we heartily encourage you to consider Muse Lantern Battery table light for all your swashbuckling needs.
Lantern Portable Table Light from Kartell
Lantern portable table light from Kartell combines an intriguingly simple form with innovative engineering
The development of reliable glassworking techniques created a whole new world in lanterns. Glass was more heat-resistant than metal while also being being transparent. It could protect a flame from the elements more completely than a metal screen while offering greater light. Fabio Novembre's simply-named Lantern portable table light for Kartell is a celebration of the craft of glasswork. The textures of the injection-moulded glass create rich, luxurious facets to its profile, which the classic shape refines into a sense of timeless dignity.
Of course, too much dignity is called 'hubris,' which is among the many, many failings of the cruel Prince Prospero in Edgar Allan Poe's iconic "The Masque of the Red Death." While the horrors of the Red Death plague ravage his Italian province and its people, Prospero gathers his friends, acolytes, and toadies within his palace walls. While peasants die at his gate, he throws a great masquerade ball in a series of colour-themed rooms--with the last being, in somewhat poor taste, decorated in black and lit in red.
With an array of available colours, and an integrated battery that recharges wirelessly via placement on the included charging base, Kartell's Lantern portable table lamp is ideal for showing up at friends' parties as a harbinger of doom.
Sylvestrina Portable Table from Santa & Cole
Drama and dignity define Sylvestrina portable table lamp, designed for Santa & Cole by Enric Sòria and Jordi Garcés
Perhaps the simplest form of lantern through history was the glass-chambered candle. Santa & Cole's Sylvestrina portable table light is an exceptional creation, having been designed to bear not only the form of a classic candle-based lantern, but also the soft, warm lighting profile of one.
Further, Sylvestrina's light is controlled through the transparent outer diffuser. Pressing the glass down turns the integrated LED on or off while twisting adjusts the dimmer, granting you the ability to set the perfect atmosFEAR (lighting crash, cackling laughter, etc.,), which is the idea at the heart of Ambrose Bierce's exceptional short story, "The Suitable Surroundings."
Sylvestrina portable table light is ideal for intimate encounters such as dinners for two and ritual sacrifices
A favourite among writers, "The Suitable Surroundings" tells the tale of a writer who instructs a friend on the proper way to set the mood to truly experience the stories he writes. Though not intended as a reading light, Sylvestrina portable table lamp is perfect for reading spine-chilling tales of terror all alone in a darkened room--although, we must say, we hope you endure the experience better than Bierce's Mr. Marsh.
Dome Nomad from Brokis
New from Brokis, design studio Chiaramonte Marin's Dome Nomad collection of portable table/floor lights were inspired by Venice
The formidable presence of Brokis' Dome Nomad portable table light, designed by Italian design duo Chiaramonte Marin, brings to mind the bold architecture of Rome. With its integrated rechargeable battery, Dome Nomad portable table and floor light would be ideal for expeditions among Roman ruins--such as those featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's "The New Catacomb."
With more than a passing resemblance to Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado," Doyle's short story finds two students of Roman antiquities descending into a catacomb one of them has recently discovered. Two men enter, but only one returns--with the other left trapped in a pitch-black subterranean labyrinth he cannot hope to escape.
Dome Nomad portable table lamp's lined glass option evokes moonlight on a Venetian canal
When specified with the optional ridged sides in Dome Nomad's glass, the light within creates a marvellous effect, with refracted highlights creating a vanishing trail from base to the upper dome… much like the vanishing hope of Conan Doyle's doomed protagonist.
Pivotante à Poser Table Light from Nemo
Legendary designer Charlotte Perriand's Pivotante à Poser table light from Nemo is boldly simple
Similarly murderous intent lies at the heart of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," in which a man recounts the tale of how and why he murdered his aging employer. The narrator describes, in exquisite detail, creeping to the old man's room every night for a week and opening the lantern's gate to see the old man asleep. The ability to control the lantern's light indicates that it was what is called a "dark lantern," which allows you to limit or even cover the light without putting it out, in much the same way as Pivotante à Poser.
Iconic lighting designer Charlotte Perriand's Pivotante à Poser table light is a simple, modernist design that operates like a dark lantern. Dual independently-controlled shades allow you to open the front and back to release the precise amount and direction of lighting you desire.
In Poe's tale, on the narrator's final visit to his master's room, the narrow beam lantern light falls upon the old man's dead, rheumy eye--which the narrator blames for his hatred--which spurs the narrator on to his dreadful deed. Since Pivotante à Poser is not a portable lantern, however, you can enjoy feeling relatively safe from being brutally murdered by the domestic help.
Circ M-3826X Outdoor Portable Table Light from Estiluz
Circ M-3826X outdoor portable table light was designed for Estiluz by Nahtrang Studio for versatility
With Circ M-3826X outdoor portable table light's entry in this list, we begin a journey through the history of the grinning gourds that so many of us enjoy at this time of year. Circ M-3826X is a uniquely versatile member of the Circ family in that it combines the signature softly glowing Circ globe with a small metal hook instead of an actual handle. This hook allows the light to serve as a carried lantern, a table lamp, a wall light, or a pendant.
In presence, Circ M-3826X outdoor portable table light is akin to foxfire, what we know today to be a naturally-occurring bioluminescent phenomenon associated with fungal life growing on decaying wood. In times past, however, the appearance of foxfire in the European wilderness on warm nights led to tales of the fair folk and their nocturnal revels.
Among the extensive Circ family of lights, Circ M-3826X is uniquely adaptable to both family barbecues in the backyard and battles for your immortal soul in a forsaken inferno
In Ireland, they were (and perhaps are) known as the aos sì or aes sidhe, the "people of the mounds," as they were believed to live in the hills and burial mounds that cover the Irish landscape. Some benevolent, some malign, and some just looking to play tricks for fun, the fairies' presence was often associated with mysterious lights where none could be.
Koi Dome from Lladró
Koi Dome portable table light from Lladró, part of the Dome collection of lights
Although the term "foxfire" is theorized, by some, to have its origins in the term "faux fire," the bioluminescent effect that characterizes it is associated with foxes in folkloric traditions all over the world. In Japan, kitsune--the Japanese word for "fox"--are prominently associated with magic powers, mischievous tricksters, benevolent guardians, and even shapeshifting lovers.
The soft glow of Lladró's porcelain Koi Dome outdoor portable table light brings to mind the effect called kitsunebi, ghost lights that served as the Japanese version of foxfire. Inspired by Japanese culture and decorated with golden koi fish, Koi Dome has a lush, soulful warmth that brings a sense of peace and tranquility wheresoever you place it.
Hand-crafted from Lladró's signature porcelain formula, Koi Dome exudes peace and tranquility
Like all Shinto-related beliefs, legends regarding kitsunebi vary from region to region. Some kitsunebi existed to warn travellers away, while others guided them to their destination in the darkness. And, of course, some guided the foolish to misadventure, which brings us to:
Bola Lantern from Pablo
Pablo's Bola Lantern portable table lamp uses a simple form to create a profound effect
Returning to Ireland and Gaelic folklore traditions in general, we find ourselves once again dealing with ethereal ghost lights. The phenomenon known as the "will-o'-the-wisp" is distinct from fairy lights in that these lights tend to travel and usually lead people into danger. Decaying organic matter produces three chemicals (phosphine, diphosphene, and methane) that, when exposed to oxygen, create a chain reaction ending in a brief moment of flame--in mid-air, and from no evident source.
Pablo's combination of an opal glass sphere with a reflective metallic disc grants Bola Lantern portable table lamp an ethereal effect evocative of the will-o'-the-wisp of common folklore. But, more, its leather handle and dimmability create a lantern calling to mind the story of Will-o'-the-wisp: an angry spirit who delighted in misleading travellers.
Bola Lantern's ethereal presence is born of its luminous sphere's reflection in its polished metal disc
Unlike fairy lights and kitsunebi, will-o'-the-wisps are almost exclusively malign in nature, albeit beautifully so. Those misled by Will-o'-the-wisp's lantern would find themselves drowning in the treacherous bogs that created the phenomenon, and so a tale explaining Will's cruelty began to be told… but let's tell it with the name more of us are familiar with:
Jack O'Lantern Table Light from Brokis
Jack O'Lantern Large table light, designed by Lucie Koldova for Brokis
With Jack O'Lantern collection of lights from Brokis, Lucie Koldova honours the heritage of the jack-o'-lantern. A glowing orb within a metal frame, the acid-etched blown glass diffuser itself can be removed or repositioned according to your will. Jack O'Lantern table light sits upon a base of marble, adding a hint of weight and elegance to the luminaire's profile.
The Jack O'Lantern collection from Brokis features table lamps (left), suspension lights (right), and wall lights (not pictured)
The tale of Jack-o'-the-lantern is a cautionary one. It tells of an ill-tempered man named Jack whose spiteful taste for trickery bars him from both Heaven and Hell. When the Devil turns him away, condemning him to wander eternally, he gives Jack a burning coal with which to light his way. Jack hollows out a turnip--his favourite food, which he can no longer eat--and carries the coal within it, creating the light and lantern that thereafter bear his name.
As a corded light, Brokis' Jack O'Lantern table light won't permit you to wander far with it… all the more reason to show more prudence when dealing with supernatural forces.
Kushi Mobile Portable Table from Kundalini
Designed for Kundalini by Alberto Saggia and Valerio Sommella, Kushi Mobile portable table light has a warm, embracing presence that helps keep nightmares away
Over time, the jack-'o-lantern tradition spread around the world, with local produce replacing the turnip, most notably the pumpkin in North America. In the designer lighting world, however, probably the most apt representative is Kundalini's Kushi Mobile portable table lamp.
Round and plump, Kushi's friendly pumpkin-like form is pierced through its centre by the skewer that gives it its name (in Japanese). The Kushi family was designed by Alberto Saggia and Valerio Sommella to emphasize the contrast between the soft, warm blown glass of Kushi's body and the cool rigidity of the stem. Likewise, the jack-o'-lantern itself is an interplay of opposing concepts.
You're confident in your marketing, but are you "putting Kushi Mobile next to whatever that thing is"-level confident?
Intended to frighten, they serve to guard the home on nights when the walls between the spirit world and ours are thinnest. Indeed, in Ray Bradbury's classic novel The Halloween Tree, the jack-o'-lanterns that fill the Tree's branches are a symbol of living souls, leading to a tour--guided by the mysterious Mr. Carapace Clavicle Moundshroud--of the historic antecedents of the modern Halloween.
Cestita Alubat from Santa & Cole
One of those historic antecedents of Halloween is Mexico's Day of the Dead. Celebrated from November 1 to 2 (All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day), the Day of the Dead is the result of Spanish culture blending with indigenous beliefs and celebrations.
Recently popularized in animated films such as The Book of Life and Coco, the Day of the Dead is a time for honouring family members and close friends who have passed on. Celebrants build ofrendas featuring depictions of their honoured dead along with food and other offerings. If able, people visit and decorate the graves of loved ones, who are thought to return to the land of living on this one night.
Inspired by the lanterns found on the terraces of homes across the Spanish countryside, Miguel Milá's Cestita collection of lights are simple yet expressive in character. They breathe with a sense of elegantly rustic living and simple refinement. Your loved ones, both living and otherwise, will enjoy seeing you under the warm and welcoming light of Cestita Alubat, whether you visit them or invite them to visit you.
The End… of Us All?
A collection of LightForm jack-o'-lanterns (and jack-o'-melons)
If you'd like to add a little designer lighting dread to your Halloween (2022. Even we can't deliver in two days during a weekend), you can find these and other lurid luminaires on our website and in our offices and showrooms in Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Kelowna, and Winnipeg.
For more frightful fun, read our post on Haunting Luminaires!
Feature banner image: Cri Cri portable lantern from Foscarini