Crinkle Godley-Schwan Lamp

January 8, 2025

The Crinkle Godley-Schwan Lamp

I love the idea of having beautiful, museum quality artifacts in my home. Part of it may be pretentiousness or prestige related, but I’m also thankful that institutions exist to try to find, and celebrate, creative achievement.

I was crawling through the MoMA website’s permanent collection of products, and googling every one I liked just to see if it was still in production, for sale, etc.

The MoMA image of the Godley-Schwan Lamp

This is when I discovered the Crinkle Godley-Schwan Lamp. It was striking, and the color on the website made it feel like this otherworldly orb. (Link here). And the best part was that it was for sale on eBay.

I am a bit of an impulse shopper, and when I saw the listing on eBay I had to “Buy It Now”. The price was more modest than I was expecting, and it felt too good to be true. I previously wished it came in the orange or purple I’ve seen elsewhere online, but I’ve now come to enjoy the versatility of the gray. It’s more flexible and suited to a home.

When the original bulb it came with burnt out, we had trouble finding a replacement that fit inside the fixture. My boyfriend had a great idea of reaching out to Lynn Godley directly via email to ask what type of bulb we should use in the lamp.

Surprisingly, she replied, and specified the size and luminosity of what the light bulb should be. We tried it out: it was hideous.

She specified this bright daylight bulb which was extremely cool. We speculated that it was the bulb that looked best in a museum or gallery setting, but not at home. Either way, armed with the proper bulb size, we found one that was a lot warmer and looked way better at home.

It’s fun to be able to interact with the maker of an object like this. Sometimes the world really is so small, in a good way. It makes me want to cold email more people I find interesting and see where it goes.