Father's Day Gifts: Lamps & Homewares for cool dads

Give him the thing he would never buy himself: a sculptural designer lamp that doubles as an object on the shelf. The flagship is our own Originals collection, the family we design in Melbourne, and the Trunk Lamp at $349 is the standout. A weighted American oak veneer base under a screen-printed cotton linen shade, laying a soft warm pool across a desk or sideboard, reading as considered and architectural switched off. In Grass it carries green stripes screen-printed across the linen, which is the version that gets the comment. For a bolder, cheekier silhouette, the Sunnyboy Lamp at $279 does the same job with more personality and a glare hood that keeps the light off his face.

These are the pieces that feel like a proper step up from socks and a six-pack without tipping into fuss. Pick the form that suits his room, and the light does the rest.

For the shed, the garage or anywhere a power point is a stretch, give him a cordless, rechargeable lamp he can put down wherever the job is. The Portable Metal Touch Lamp at $119 is polished metal in Brassy Gold or Aluminium, charges over USB-C and dims with a touch, and a second touch cycles three colour temperatures from warm to cool, so it can run cooler over a fiddly job and warmer on the back step afterwards. A 3600mAh battery gives up to 36 hours a charge, around 12 at full, so it will not die on him mid-task. The solid-timber Timber Mushie Lamp at $115 does the warmer, more tactile version in Beech or Walnut, with touch dimming and a barrel-to-USB charge, and it looks just as good on a bedside as on a shelf in the shed.

Both run a soft warm light, and both solve the no-outlet problem a corded lamp cannot. For a dad who is always tinkering somewhere, a light he can carry is the practical winner every time.

Being straight about it: at recommended retail our lamps start at $115, so a genuinely under-$100 gift here is an accent rather than a lamp. Our under-$100 gifts do that job well. A stainless steel Plaza tray from $75 is the catch-all that finally stops his keys migrating around the house, and a two-pack of warm 2200K globes at $39 quietly fixes the light in a whole room for the price of a round of coffees.

If it has to be a lamp, the Timber Mushie Lamp at $115 and the Portable Metal Touch Lamp at $119 are the two cordless pieces just above the band, and both clear the $100 free-shipping threshold on their own, so the delivery you save covers most of the gap. Either one feels like a proper designer piece rather than a fallback, which is the point of buying small and buying well.

Colour temperature is warm across the picks. The Originals, Trunk, Hoist and Sunnyboy, ship with an ultra-warm 2200K globe fitted: the Trunk throws a soft downward wash, the Hoist lifts the wall behind, the Sunnyboy wears a glare hood. The frosted glass Bubblegum sends the same 2200K glow. The Puffball is moulded acrylic, so the whole shade glows as one with no hotspot, on four E14 globes at 2700K. Cordless pieces dim by touch: the Portable Metal Touch cycles three colour temperatures, the Timber Mushie runs warm only. Mains lamps are tested to AS/NZS 60598, RCM marked, EESS registered and fitted with a genuine Australian plug. Every lamp carries a 12-month warranty, 30-day returns and free shipping over $100.