Gloom-busters!

On the last evening of a recent trip to Montreal, I spotted a magnificent chandelier in a bakery window. A bit awestruck by its size and brightness, I just had to snap a picture, above.

The moment has haunted me, because the recent time shift plunges us into darkness so early in the day – leading me to fantasize about installing exactly this lamp in my living room.

Thankfully, I already have a solution for defeating sudden nightfall – and it's a lot easier to set up. It's the Carrie Lamp by Norm Architects, an LED-powered lantern with a powerful glow.

Here's a shot of the gloom-buster at the foot of my bed:

The beauty of this device is it's completely cord-free, its untethered state allowing you to quickly locate it wherever needed. It also has three brightness settings triggered by a little button you press repeatedly, for perfectly calibrated variations in mood.

Carrie is part of a new breed of portable table lamp that's typically charged with a USB cable, giving your lighting palette a modish flexibility. The PC Portable Lamp, designed by Pierre Charpin, is a cute little number:

Like so many products from the Danish firm HAY, it comes in a striking array of colour combinations:

Another brand to consider is fatboy, whose Edison the Petit plays on the traditional shape of the table lamp:

Edison stands ten inches high, but is also available as a trio of miniature six-inch versions:

Once you start exploring, you'll discover a lot of options in this playful form of illumination.

It's just the antidote for November's creeping shadows. The simple act of positioning and repositioning these babies gives you newfound power. All at once you're in control of the dark.

Affectionately,