FURNISHINGS : Torchiers Can Be an Illuminating Fixture

Ask different experts to describe a torchier and you’ll get a variety of illuminating responses.

Ernie Varkel, a partner of L.D. Wholesale Lighting (formerly Coastal Moods Lighting) in San Juan Capistrano, compares torchiers to oversized flashlights that stand in the living room aimed at the ceiling.

Marilyn Jaeger, sales manager of Light Adventure in Newport Beach, finds that torchiers are like illuminated sculpture.

“A lot of them look like pieces of art, but they give out light,” she says. Indeed, many of the funky torchiers in her showroom are the work of artists.

A dictionary describes torchiers as “a tall ornamental stand for a candle or candelabrum, usually set on a tripod base. An electric floor lamp giving indirect light.”

Torchiers--basically light fixtures shaped like torches--have been around since the 18th Century, when they were more like actual torches, illuminated by the flame from candles instead of electricity.

Not until the last 15 or 20 years has the contemporary torchier with its high-tech shape and powerful halogen bulb emerged as a popular light fixture for the home, according to Varkel.

With the absence of ceiling-mounted lights in tract homes--a trend Varkel deplores--many homeowners are turning to torchiers to provide needed up-lighting for a room. The torchier is especially effective when reflecting off the angled planes of cathedral ceilings.

“People don’t realize what light can do. It creates a mood when there’s light on the ceiling, especially when there’s beautiful architecture,” Jaeger says. “People also use torchiers to make a room feel bigger. Down-lighting makes you feel claustrophobic.”

Lisa Peterson, president of Peterson Lighting Inc. in Long Beach, says too many decorators neglect to properly illuminate their homes, failing to make the most of furnishings and architecture.

“It’s irritating to have one type of lighting,” she says.

She recommends layering, so that light reflects up and down, with some lamps to illuminate the middle. Torchiers give the room a soft overall illumination by reflecting off the walls and ceiling.

“It’s easier on the eyes,” she says.

Choosing a torchier is a matter of taste. They come in styles to suit virtually every type of decor, from Art Deco to Victorian.

Light Adventure’s showroom, a place with the futuristic decor of a Star Trek set, offers one of the widest local selections of unusual contemporary torchiers.

Artists and manufacturers use all kinds of materials, including wrought iron, brushed aluminum, copper, acrylic and ceramics, for their lamps.

Many torchiers have a high-tech look, with glass disks and cold metal pounded into funky geometric shapes.

One specimen at Light Adventure has the bulb enclosed in a copper cone, which rests on a small gold ball and flattened rectangle balanced on top of a long narrow copper pole. Another has three intersecting metal sticks supporting a handblown glass saucer with painted streaks of copper and charcoal that are lit by the bulb from within.

“It’s called ‘The Tribe,’ because it looks like a tepee,” Jaeger says.

Torchiers can be sleek, such as the all-black metal model with slender legs forming a tripod and supporting a small, round dish, or bulky, like the wide ceramic column that sprouts a head of palm fronds.

Some torchier artists make use of materials in inventive ways--wrapping a piece of perforated metal into a long tube and inserting a low-voltage bulb that emits a pinkish glow at the top or surrounding the bulb with reflector lights similar to those used on auto brake lights.

Arguably the most unusual torchier at Adventure Light has a chrome metal pole with a piece of brass mesh thrown over the light like an old T-shirt.

Higher-end torchiers such as those at Adventure Light sell for about $300 to $1,500 or more for a one-of-a-kind creation.

For those with smaller budgets, mass-produced torchiers can be had for as little as $30 at builder’s supply stores for a basic black or white-metal model, which looks like a barbell with an 18-inch base and 18-inch dish supported by a 2-inch post.

A red alert to homeowners before choosing a torchier: The lamps might not be suitable in a home with small children, Peterson says. They can be pulled down, and the hot halogen bulb can cause burns and possibly fire.

“I caution them to think about safety,” she says, lest a torchier becomes a torch.