I have been stacking these forms for a while now. Turning them on the lathe, throwing them on the wheel, setting one shape on top of another, standing back, taking the top one off again, and starting over. You can feel it when the proportion finally sits right. There is nothing scientific about it. The stack either holds its balance or it does not, and until it does I keep going.
That is how TOTEM began, and it is why the series carries that name. A totem is not designed all at once. It is built one form at a time, each one resting on the one below it, each carrying something of its own. These lamps are made the same way.
The question the series began with
Most of my work starts with a question rather than a sketch, and the question here was simple enough to be difficult. What would happen if a lamp were not one object but several, gathered into a single column, and none of them quite matched?
Lighting usually asks for restraint. A base, a stem, a shade, all speaking the same language. I wanted to see what happened if I let them argue a little. A turned wood segment against a glazed ceramic belly. A blunt, heavy foot under something delicate. Matte beside high gloss. The pieces that work are the ones where the disagreement resolves into balance, and you cannot say exactly why it does.
This is the same instinct that runs through everything in the studio. Bauhaus clarity on one side, the ornate richness of Mughal form on the other, and the interesting part happening where they meet.
Made by hand, one segment at a time
Every TOTEM lamp is made entirely by my own hands, from the first pull of clay through glazing and firing, and from the rough blank on the lathe through to the final colour. That is what makes them one of a kind in the true sense. Not a limited edition, not a small batch, but pieces that cannot be repeated because of the way they are made.
The ceramic segments carry experimental glazes, which is the part of the process I have the least control over and enjoy the most. I mix, I test, I load the kiln with a reasonable idea of what will come out, and then the kiln decides. Some of the surfaces in this series came out of the firing better than anything I could have planned. Some came out as lessons. A pale blue-grey that pooled and clouded across a shoulder, a deep green that broke to brown at the edges, a speckled stoneware that reads almost like stone. None of those can be made a second time in exactly the same way, and I have stopped trying.
The wood segments are turned and coloured, drawing on the lac technique I have worked with for years, where colour is pressed onto the wood while it revolves and the friction heat melts it into a hard, durable coat. It gives a depth that paint never gives you. Set that against a fired glaze and a piece of blown glass in the same column, and the light coming down the stack behaves differently on each one.
Wood, ceramic, glass. Three materials that do not usually share a single object, doing exactly that.
The shades
The shades are their own part of the story. I designed each one myself, and the hand crafting was done here in Toronto with the makers I work with locally. Some are printed with layered collage and typography, which is a direct line back to my earlier years in art direction and set design, when I spent my days building images. Others are quieter. One of the lamps in the series carries a plain opal glass globe instead of a shade, because that piece had enough happening below it already.
When the light is on, the printed shades change completely. What reads as a graphic panel in daylight turns warm and soft, and the image sits back into the fabric rather than sitting on it. That was the thing I was chasing.
TOTEM at CORE Toronto
A few nights ago I showed a group of these at CORE Toronto, presented by Public Display Agency at The Demo Room on Lakeshore Boulevard East. It ran from seven until eleven, and I brought the new series along with one lamp that has not been released yet.
Showing work in a room full of people is a different thing from photographing it. You watch where someone's eye lands first, which stack they walk toward, which one they reach out and touch before they remember not to. I learned a few things that evening that I would not have learned in the studio. Thank you to everyone who came out and spent time with the work.
Why one of a kind matters here
I make production pieces too, and I believe in them. But there is a particular honesty in an object that exists once. Nobody else has the lamp you have. The glaze that broke across its shoulder broke that way in one firing, for one piece, and then never again.
TOTEM sits inside the studio's wider one of a kind practice, alongside the ceramic totems and chandeliers I make for private clients. Same approach, same hands, same willingness to let the material have an opinion.
The series is continuing. There are more forms on the lathe and more glazes waiting on test tiles, and I expect the stacks will keep getting stranger before they settle.
Frequently asked
What is the TOTEM series? TOTEM is a one of a kind sculptural table lamp series by Toronto designer Tahir Mahmood, built from stacked turned wood, hand thrown ceramic and glass segments.
Is each lamp unique? Yes. Every lamp is individually made and finished with experimental glazes, so no two are alike and none can be reproduced exactly.
Who makes them? Each lamp is handmade by Tahir Mahmood. The shades are designed by Tahir and hand crafted in Toronto.
What are they made from? Wood, ceramic and glass, with experimental kiln fired glazes and turned, coloured wood.
Where can I buy a TOTEM lamp? Individual pieces are available through tahirmahmood.com. Because each one is unique, availability changes as pieces sell.
Can I commission one? Yes. Bespoke lamps, totems and chandeliers are made to order. Get in touch through the contact form on the site.
See the series
The available TOTEM lamps are on the site now, and new pieces are added as they come out of the kiln. If one of them is speaking to you, it is worth reaching out sooner rather than later, since there is only ever one.
View the TOTEM series at tahirmahmood.com
Tahir Mahmood Designer & Founder
Tahir Mahmood Design is a Toronto-based luxury home decor and artisanal design studio. Each piece is designed by Tahir Mahmood and made in collaboration with master craftsmen in Canada and around the world.
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