Designer Jialun Xiong’s Half Table Lamp started as something mundane: an 11×17 tabloid paper format that she cut, rotated, and mirrored until it became a lampshade. Growing up in Chongqing, China, she tells me she was always surrounded by exposed structures and frameworks that felt both essential and beautiful. Now running her eponymous Los Angeles studio full-time since 2021, Jailun studied interior architecture and furniture design at ArtCenter College of Design before working at a large architectural firm on high-rise residential projects. Her practice spans interiors, furniture collections, and lighting, unified by her exploration of structure and restraint.
Raw silk wrapped around glass creates subtle variations in each hand-fabricated piece while maintaining precise proportions. Photo by Victor Chen
Jialun treats structure as part of the design, not something to conceal. “The proportions stuck because they felt right, not because they followed any formula.” What emerged was a shade that pivots up to 40 degrees on each side in an eclipse-like motion, allowing users to direct light based on need rather than moving the entire lamp. While adjustable lamps have been a staple since the 1930s, from George Carwardine’s spring-balanced Anglepoise to industrial swing-arm designs, most adjust via articulated arms or hinged necks. The Half Table Lamp’s approach is more sculptural: the shade itself pivots on the light source in a way that recalls Vico Magistretti’s 1967 Eclisse lamp, which used rotating hemispheres to simulate an eclipse effect for dimming.
“While the lamp appears minimal and refined, much of its richness lies in the craftsmanship and material choices not immediately visible,” she says. The silk diffuses light into a soft glow while adding a depth you might not catch at first glance. Metal components are hand-welded, then machine-coated for durability. Eight months of development included two prototyping rounds, though most time went to the unglamorous work of engineering, technical refinement, and UL certification.
The lamp took eight months of development and collaboration with Hong Kong manufacturers to realize. Photo by Victor Chen
Jialun sees herself as a designer rather than a maker, relying on fabrication partners who can execute what local resources couldn’t. “Over the years, we have built strong relationships with manufacturers in Hong Kong, allowing us to experiment with and refine techniques, including spinning silk,” she says.
Her studio philosophy also resists the pressure to chase what’s current. “My hope is that our designs can exist within the broader context of design history rather than being defined by trends,” Jialun says. “Trends naturally come and go, and if certain forms or material expressions happen to resonate with a moment in time, that’s meaningful as well. Each piece is ultimately driven by our core philosophy of duality and creative restraint, allowing the work to remain relevant beyond any specific trend cycle.
“The Half Table Lamp is especially suited for early mornings and late evenings, when a gentle ambient glow feels most comforting,” Jialun says. The pivoting shade means it adapts to whatever you’re doing without requiring you to move the lamp around.
Each piece is produced in small batches with hand fabrication that creates subtle variations while maintaining precise proportions.
