SML Studio lamps are all one of a kind pieces that combine fine joinery methods, shaping, carving, and leaded stained glass. Every individual lamp pursuits its own style of lighting, from full lustrous light, to sweetly colored mood lighting, to dim comfort lights for sleeping. Explore the lamps below to see what the studio has been creating lately.
Pink/Green
Carved sugar maple, G8 lightbulb, light French polish. Easy elegant light that fills a room with soft hues of subtle pink and green hues.
Sugar maple is a large tree that lives all across the midwest - Eastern U.S. it is well known as the source of maple sugar and syrup. The wood harvested from sugar maple is also known as hard maple for its high density, and can feature enormous variety in grain figure and color tones.
Passage
Bigleaf Maple, G8 lightbulb. An all wood lamp with relief carving. The carvings are a celebration of air, wind, sunlight, and how they affect growth of the natural world around us. The Passage lamp is all wood, its construction appears far more simple than it actually is.
-2023-
While Chicago and midwest forests are populated by sugar, red, silver, and norway maple trees, the Pacific Northwest has bigleaf maple, which is the largest species of maple in the world. Bigleaf maple is classified as a "soft maple," and its lower density makes for an excellent carving wood.
Red/White
Stained glass, red oak, G8 light sockets. This lamp is wired so that each color can be controlled separately. Produces warm light with white, red and pink hues. The white glass underneath each glass cube makes this lamp quite luminous and makes an excellent evening reading lamp while also setting a low-key mood.
-2023-
Fraxinus et Solis
Green ash leaf, stained and clear glass, walnut frame, pine base, e11 socket. The frame is all wood joinery and the joints are not fixed (glued), so the frame comes apart and the leaf can be replaced if ever desired.
-2022- SOLD
Ash is a common parkway tree in Chicago. At one point Green and white ash trees accounted for around 20% of our urban forest. Due to the emerald ash borer the population has dwindled, and the city of Chicago no longer plants ash trees. This lamp exists as a memorial to these ash trees, and hope that our current methods to protect the existing ash trees will protect the living population into the future.
Yellow/Blue
Nightlight
Bigleaf maple base, stained glass, G8 light socket. Yellow/Blue casts both wonderful accompanying light, and is perfect as a relaxing nightlight. The head of the lamp can be reversed, to change the orientation of the yellow and blue glass on opposing sides.
-2023-
Equinox Lamp
Stained glass, quarter sawn, carved white oak base, e11 light socket. The Equinox Lamp casts warm light through its sunny orange and yellow glass. Perfect for complimentary lighting in a living room, or a reading lamp to relax by. Provides a beautiful feeling of warmth.
-2023-
The white oak family is widespread with various species throughout the world. The Chicago urban forest has a diverse population of white oaks, including swamp white oak, bur oak, shingle oak, and chinquapin oak.
Three Sunrises
Stained glass, black locust base, e12 (candelabra) light socket. This lamp was a tribute to a nest of 3 newborn peregrine falcons located at the building complex where SML Studio is located.
-2022-
Black locust is considered a highly invasive species in North America. In Chicago, those who visit streets lined with black locust in early Spring are treated to a grand sight of their white blossoming flowers hanging with their new foliage. Black locust is not a popular furniture wood, it's yellow green tint and high density are likely what make it less desirable for most makers. However as foresters attempt to replace these invasive trees, the lumber they yield is beautiful and highly useful.
Howl
Red maple leaf, sapele frame, birdseye maple background, pine base, e11 socket. As with all of the leaf frames the frame's joinery is not glued so the leaf can be replaced.
-2022- SOLD
Red maple is one of the most outstanding trees to witness in both the Fall and Spring. It's Autumn foliage and Spring flowers have a bright red color that jump out in any environment. A common parkway tree in Chicago, this particular red maple leaf shows the early Autumn transition from green to bright red.
Fern Lamp
Stained glass, raw maple base, polycarbonate planter. The planter has drainage and is removable for watering. -2020- SOLD
The fern lamp began as a simple idea, could a plant live inside the same structure as a light fixture and thrive. A homage to the importance of our house plants and gifts they provide our homes.
Honey Lamp
Stained glass, raw maple base, e17 (standard) light socket.
-2021-SOLD
The various species of maple trees all produce similar yet not-so similar lumber. The honey lamp is made from sugar maple. As a tree it is a species of maple that is renowned for producing sweet edible sap made into maple syrup, in woodworking it is known as hard maple. A wood that is s lighter in color and far more dense than other species of maple such as red, bigleaf, and silver.
Fraxinus II
Green ash leaf, ash base, walnut frame, stained glass structure, e11 light socket. The second version of an ash leaf lamp, the bulb housed inside the ash base, shines both through the stained glass structure and above the create a subtle glow around the ash leaf. Cozy and beautiful.
-2023-SOLD
Shedua Nightlight
Shedua, ebony, stained glass, e11 light socket. This lamp creates a mystifying glow from above and below the base. Casts subtle red's, oranges and purples, perfect light for relaxation and sleeping. -2022-
Shedua, also known as ovangkol, is a tropical tree native to Western Africa. Shedua is in the fabaceae family of plants, or the legume family that are distinctive for their hanging seed pods. Shedua has a few Chicago relatives including highly populated parkway trees: black locust, honey locust, and Kentucky coffee tree.