Valiant Sconce

After finishing his studies in finance and marketing in London and New York, Istanbul-born designer Barlas Baylar established Hudson Furniture in 2004 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Baylar’s reputable firm draws on modern architecture and classic Art Deco design to produce intriguing, complex lighting fixtures and furnishings. 

At its New York City atelier, Hudson Furniture’ highly skilled craftspeople create dining tables, chairs and decorative objects by hand, giving each piece its own individual provenance. With respect to sourcing its materials, the company prioritizes conservation (Hudson is a repository for legally harvested petrified wood).

Baylar’s firm utilizes strictly dead or dying wood from around the world, accepting salvaged material and wood from trees downed by storm damage or other natural occurrences, and owing to his love for nature, he seeks to bring the outdoors into interior spaces so that its beauty can be admired as pieces of functional but sculptural furniture. 

From the exquisite hand-blown globe glass elements that comprise his Valiant lighting collection to sculptural, striking polished bronze branches that wrap around his Meta credenza, Bayler designs provocative furniture that elevates any space. Over the years Hudson Furniture has partnered with the likes of Tommy Hilfiger, Alexander McQueen, Burberry, Tom Ford and more.  

Whether it's a stand-alone coffee table or part of a dining room chair set on display in the firm’s New York City showroom, Hudson Furniture continues to create marvelous, one-of-a-kind pieces to be cherished for generations to come.

Find Barlas Baylar tables, seating and lighting on 1stDibs.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

From the kitchen to the bedroom and everywhere in between, there is one major part of home decor that you definitely want to master: lighting. Carefully selected vintage sconces and wall lights can do wonders in establishing mood and highlighting your distinctive personality.

We’re a long way from the candelabra-inspired chandeliers of the medieval era. Lighting is no longer merely practical, and lighting designers have been creating and reinventing lighting solutions for eons. Because of the advancements crafted by these venturesome makers, we now have the opportunity to bring unique, customizable lighting solutions into our homes.

It’s never been easier to create dramatic bedrooms, cozy kitchen areas and cheerful bars than it is today. Think of an elegant wall sconce as functional and as a work of art, adding both light and style to your hallways, whimsical kids’ rooms and elsewhere.

When choosing a lighting solution, first determine what your needs are: Will you opt for a moody or a bright feel? The room that will serve as your home office will need adequate lighting — think “the brighter, the better” for this particular setting.

For the bedroom, bedside wall lamps with warm-temperature bulbs instead of bedside table lamps could be the way to go to induce a sense of calm or intimacy. Try to match the style of the wall light or sconce that you’re installing to the overall design scheme of your room. It’s never “just a light.” You should approach the lighting of a room with a mindset that is one part practical and one part aesthetics-driven.

Let 1stDibs help you set the mood with the right antique and vintage wall lights and sconces for your home. Our collection includes every kind of fixture, from sculptural works by Austrian craftsman J.T. Kalmar to chic industrial-style wall sconces, from adjustable painted aluminum wall lamps designed by Artemide to a wide variety of minimalist mid-century modern masterpieces.