Mushroom lamps are so ubiquitous today that it might not even occur to you to wonder from whence they came, but the quirky table toppers have a storied past.  

According to design historians cited in The Wall Street Journal, Art Nouveau designer Émile Gallé’s glass ‘Champignons’ lamps may have pioneered this trend in the early 1900s. Mushroom lamps became mainstream nearly a century later, booming, for whatever reason, in the 1970s. “Maybe the Mushroom Council had an incredible publicist in the ’70s,” designer Jonathan Adler speculates.

Whatever the inspiration, that decade produced two iconic mushroom lamp designs: Gambaro e Poggi’s Murano glass design for Vetri and Verner Panton’s Panthella for Louis Poulsen. The former shape—short, stubby, and hand-blown by glassmakers in Italy—is what we now know as a Murano mushroom lamp. The latter, meanwhile, has a tall, slim base and a minimalist cap top.

As the 70s waned, the mushroom lamp trend went dormant for some time, only to crop back up during the pandemic when people sought to feather their nests, specifically with decor inspired by the outdoors—with bonus points for anything that popped on social media. “In the amped-up, Instagrammable age, people are always looking for an escape from the basic,” says Adler. “And the mushroom lamp is just not basic.”

Though it’s been three years since 'shroomy lamps first took over social media, the trend shows no signs of slowing. In fact, Pinterest predicted that “Mush-Rooms” and mushroom-themed home decor would be all the rage in 2023. And all the rage it is. In fact, the mushroom lamp hashtag has over six billion views on TikTok to date. To add a bit of spunk and story to your home, shop some of our favorite 'shroomy lights below.

Seven Shroomboom-Approved Mushroom Lamps