The truth about Bliss flower lamps
Peter Bliss does not exist!
Mike Bliss of Bliss Flights of Fancy, Ltd. designed flower lamps in the early 1980s in the UK. Peter Chiswick (my dad) came to Chicago in the mid ‘80s and imported the designs (and myself, age 1) to the US.
The lamps are almost always misattributed to “Peter Bliss”, so the main purpose of this post is to clarify the very important record and share some more info. The easiest correct attribution is just “Bliss”. “Mike Bliss” also works if you like including first names.
The lamps were made from steel bases and use aluminum shades with adjustable goose necks. They were sold in tulip and daffodil versions in table (small, 27”) and floor (large, 6’) sizes in various colors. They originally retailed for $100 ($250 in 2024 dollars) and $250 ($625 in 2024 dollars).
They were featured in the 1988 comedy Heathers, directed by Michael Lehmann:
Stooping
New Yorkers often leave items on the street as freerolls (i.e. free to anyone who happens upon them), which are mostly not that valuable, but the Instagram account stoopingnyc highlights interesting and special finds. In July 2022, they posted that someone had left a Bliss floor tulip lamp in between Lafayette and 3rd Ave on 9th St in Manhattan.
Somewhere around here:
This led to the lamps going a bit viral, especially after Father Sean Misty, who runs Tri-State Modern (easily identifiable by the gold wavy thing in the background of every pic), posted about it:
This led to a few mainstream articles from The Independent, Newsweek, and Apartment Therapy, mostly questioning why someone would throw out a “$4,000 lamp” (probably not actually worth that much, but still pretty valuable!). Did they not know? Were they too rich to care? We might never find out.
Other Bliss Items
Bliss still exists and continues to make some items.
Here are some examples of their vintage items from the ‘80s:
Other Posts
Where to buy Bliss Lamps now?
The lamps are no longer being manufactured, but occasionally pop up at vintage furniture stores and online. They’ve been sold recently by Carefully Picked (Chicago), Spears (Chicago), Home Union (NYC), and from other sellers.
I can’t recommend it, but if you want an Urban Outfitters Gen Z version, they have them in two colors for $199:
We still have a very limited number of lamps in both sizes that might be available if you contact me (IG, email). Some photos from the archives:
