advice needed - tizio/tolemeo
Do you think it look okay to mix tolomeo lamps and tizio lamps within the same room? I was thinking of using a mega tolemeo for a feature lamp over the sofa/coffee table and a tizio as a side table lamp.

Tolmeo/Tizio
Stephen, I think cwoo is right to pick out the size and ceiling height of the room as key here, however I am using these lights very successfully together. The room (building from the 1830s) is about 22x16ft and has 13ft ceilings with a decorative plaster cornice and no central light fitting. I use the Tizio on a Victorian pine chest of drawers in the corner of the narrower (fireplace) end of the room, where it contrasts nicely with the grey marble mantlepiece and blue and white delft tiles and is the same colour as the Morso squirrel stove. Because it is rather tucked away, the strong design is an advantage, rather than being too dominant. It is also good as a downlight for the beach pebbles and bowl on top of the chest.

The Tolmeo Mego is at the window end of an oversized sofa - comfortable rather than of any design merit - which has cream slip covers and various throws and cushions in natural linens and wools. The cream shade of the light is above the middle of the sofa and of a similar colour. The windows probably dominate here, since the room is south facing and overlooks a large communal garden. I'm not sure how these lights would look in a very plain room with no views or decorative features - probably pretty good if there was plenty of ceiling hight.

The other lights in the room are two cream Best and Lloyd floor (reading) lamps , a Technolumen Bahaus lamp WG24 (glass shade and stem) and a glass block lamp - also a plain black uplighter which is functional rather than decorative. They all go together, which is lucky, since none of them were particularly bought with this room in mind.

Re the Tizio - i bought two of these as bedside light. they looked pretty cool on top of old wooden wine crates. However after a couple of years the joints seemed to loosen so the light end wouldn't stay in the right place for reading. The shop where we got them couldn't seem to fix the problem. We replaced them in this site with white frosted plastic IKEA lights which cost practically nothing and function beautifully. Has anyone else have the same thing happen with a Tizio, and, if so how did you fix it? One shop suggested inserting a coin into one of the sections (which one?) for balance, but I haven't tried this yet.

More comments
I think I also agree with cwoo about Tizio. It looks very office-y to me. Not that Tolomeo isn't, but it seems warmer and more graceful to me. I toy with getting one to as a reading lamp by my sofa. I have to agree that as much as I love lighting design that Annette's point on price vs quality is well taken. I have two $7.95 (US) picture frame lamps from IKEA mounted on the headboard of my bed. They're used every single day and have been whacked by pillows innumerable time for the last 7 years and they are still working fine. I would urge anyone looking at lighting to consider a small number of investment pieces for the impact of it all and go for the simpler, less expensive stuff to fill in the 'holes' in your light level. Also, Annette, I couldn't help but comment on the Morso stove. I have an vintage 1125 model in a olive-y green enamel which we just love. That sucker can roast us out of a room that is 20'x50' it's amazing. And the design is just wonderful, very danish modern.

Best and Lloyd
Olive, re reading lights, the Tizio has the design fault mentioned above, which means that I wouldn't buy it as a reading light. Are Best and Lloyd lights available in the USA? This was designed in the 1930s and influenced by Bauhaus principles. It's at:
http://www.bestandlloyd.co.uk/bestlite.html
It makes a great reading light and they make it in a table version as well as floor. I have a few of both, in cream, including a couple in the kitchen (original flagstone floor and kitchen range recess, now with birch ply and stainless steel). I prefer the smaller shade on the floor version. O yes, I have a silver one on top of an old cupboard in our hall, along with a range of beach finds, sea glass, stones, shells, etc.

I agree about the Morso, although the gas version (well, we live in central Edinburgh!) gives out less heat, and the ceramic 'coal' could look a lot more realistic. Stove shape is great though.

TIZIO:
I will never buy one now,thanks for the info.I hardly need another lamp anyway!

morso 1125
I just purchased a morso ll25...how do you control the draft...was it meant as an open fireplace or a closed door woodstove
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that's
"above the picture rail. . ."