Modernist lamp riffs on Jean Prouve Potence fixture

Gabriel Abraham found that living in a historic R.M. Schindler apartment in L.A. had one drawback: “It was very hard to install lighting fixtures.” The designer found inspiration in French Modernist Jean Prouve’s 1950 Potence lamp, which has been reissued by Vitra for $1,560. Working on a more modest budget, Abraham crafted a smaller version of the wall-mounted swiveling lamp, shown above in the Schindler apartment. “Friends got to like it, so I started to make them as gifts, and it caught on,” Abraham says. Now he produces the bent-steel design in black, white, gray and a natural oil-rubbed finish. They can be ordered with 3- or 4-foot arms ($375 and $450) or in custom sizes. The designer also created an industrial desk lamp ($275), below, which is influenced by 1950s French design and made from a single piece of laser-cut sheet metal. Buy them through Lawson-Fenning in L.A., lawsonfenning.com, or Abraham’s design blog, ateliernet.blogspot.com.

-- David A. Keeps