5 Contemporary Lighting Trends to Know in 2025

1. Nature-Inspired

Lighting fixtures inspired by the natural world were abundant at ICFF 2025. This continues a years-long trend of incorporating plant and animal motifs and materials in interiors — with a recent emphasis on marine life — that we also saw reflected in the lighting collections at the recent High Point Market.

Among our favorites at ICFF was this chandelier from Larose Guyon. It’s part of the Canadian design studio’s modular Abysse collection, which was inspired by the seabed and its creatures. The graceful chandelier features handblown glass “bubbles” suspended from seaweed-like dark brass chains. Surrounding the lighting element inside each bubble, a textured globe reminiscent of an urchin softly diffuses the light.

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This Natural Form chandelier was an especially pretty (if tricky to dust) example of lighting imitating nature. Elizabeth Lyons, founder of More Fire Glass Studio in Rochester, New York, created the delicate, sculptural floral fixture with 60 hand-sculpted glass forms on a gold powder-coated steel structure. The one-of-a-kind, custom chandeliers cast a soft, ambient glow and intricate botanically shaped shadows on the wall.

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A more abstract interpretation of a botanical form was the Tala Sycamore chandelier, which was inspired by the flight of the sycamore tree’s helicopter seedpods. Available with three or five tiers that are adjustable up to 45 degrees, the chandelier has glass shades (partly made of recycled glass) in Dusk Gray or Dawn Pink. The colored glass shades “echo the ritualistic flights of sycamore seeds in spring and autumn, embodying the rhythm of the seasons,” Tala Head of Design Daniel Carpenter says in the product description.

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2. Biomaterials

Materials derived from plants, animals and even fungi — called biomaterials or biobased materials — also played a big role in the lighting collections at ICFF. Often, using these materials was only part of companies’ broader sustainability and circular-design practices.

Among the most innovative of the biobased lighting was the biodegradable hemp-and-mycelium collections from MushLume, which we first admired at last year’s ICFF. The hemp is sustainably sourced, and the mycelium — the rapidly renewable root system of mushrooms — is biofabricated, meaning the material is not extracted, but rather grown. One of several designs in the sound-dampening Stillness collection that launched at this year’s fair, this MushLume Coral sconce was modeled after the endangered honeycomb coral.

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Photo by Patrick Biller

A colorful new collaboration between lighting company Stackabl and architecture and design firm Rockwell Group combined two familiar biomaterials — wool and cork — into one colorful, cool-looking and customizable collection of table and floor lamps that also diverts waste from landfills. The Tilt + Shift collection, pictured here, is made from a combination of merino wool felt scraps from the textile industry, renewable natural cork bases and touch-dimmable LED light discs.

Taking minimalism to an extreme, this Lama floor lamp by Riccardo Toldo had a barely visible steel structure that let the slim light source do all the talking. Every part of the 6-inch-wide, 71-inch-tall lamp can function as a switch or dimmer.

The lamp, which was designed and assembled in Italy, was presented in the Launch Pad section of the fair, which showcases prototypes by emerging designers.

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4. Sculptural Ceramics

It seemed that for every slim, sleek and high-tech lamp at ICFF, there was a sculptural, handmade ceramic counterpoint in the next booth.

Take this Sprig floor lamp by Calyer Ceramics, a Brooklyn-based studio created by Michelle McLaughlin. Inspired by the germination of a seed, the totem-like base is made of red and speckled stoneware with handmade custom glazes.

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Ceramic lamps can be sleek too, of course, as illustrated by this Olivia Barry / By Hand pendant, which resembles curved pieces of paper.

Also Brooklyn-based, Virginia Sin of SIN presented an expanded collection of ceramic lighting designs that resembled softly folded paper, along with new collections with more angular, geometric shapes. The new Stria sconces and Gio table lamp pictured here were made with woven ribbons of stoneware.

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5. Block Forms

After years of curves dominating all categories of homewares and furnishings, blocky forms and patterns like those in the previous photo were out in full force at this year’s ICFF.

Another notable collection of geometric ceramic lighting was this Squared line by St. Louis studio Winkle Ceramic Design, founded by Daniel Shapiro. The winner of ICFF’s Editors Award for Body of Work, the studio uses 3D design and printing methods along with marble slip-casting techniques to create its playful, building-block-like pieces.

Clay wasn’t the only medium used by lighting designers to create blocky lamps. Launch Pad participants JXICO design studio, for example, created the El Six lamp here — inspired by Mexico City’s urban areas — with metal and recycled glass.

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