Pair of Typ 421 Wall Sconces — NAFA (Nybro Armaturfabrik), Sweden, 1970s

Nybro Armaturfabrik AB — better known by its acronym NAFA — operated from 1948 until early 2004, when the company went bankrupt. Over more than five decades, NAFA built a reputation for well-crafted Swedish lighting across a wide range of styles and materials, from brass and glass table lamps to pieces like this pair — products of the more experimental, plastic-forward design language of the 1970s.

The Typ 421 consists of a stainless steel bracket holding two acrylic discs — one white, one dark grey — layered on top of each other, with the light source positioned behind them. The construction is simple and the concept is clear: two overlapping circles, two materials, one hidden light source. Switched off, the lamps are graphic and architectural, with the dark inner disc sitting like a shadow at the centre of the larger white one. Switched on, as the photographs show, the effect is something else entirely — the light passes through and around both discs, radiating a warm diffused glow that floods the wall in a broad arc and turns each lamp into something closer to a wall sculpture than a conventional light fitting.

The pair is in very good condition with only minor signs of age and use. They are not a perfectly matched pair — the switches differ, one bracket is metal-coloured and one is white, and the identification labels suggest a slight age difference between the two. Installed on the wall, however, none of these differences are noticeable.