Designer Alfonso Fontal asks, “why do the words luxury and lust sound so familiar?” It’s a quote. Really. Just visit the manufacturer’s website to read more of Fontal’s sexual text (it’s not subtle enough to be innuendo); at Modiss, you’ll discover that the Andressa Glam is more aphrodisiac than lamp: “Let there be light on bodies trembling with passion! …sublimated desire, skin on fire, the burning passion of lovers who search each other out to melt into a suffocating ecstasy of pleasure.” We’ll forgive Fontal for his excess, most notably because the Andressa Glam is actually sexy.

Andressa Glam by Modiss. Designed by Alfonso Fontal. Manufactured by Modiss.

The carved Bohemian crystal diffuser and lacquered fiberglass body of the lamp create a soft light–the glass is almost clear, yet milky enough to cast shadows, veiling its users in secrecy. It’s all very Venetian Festival and Arabian Nights (though it actually hails from Spain), calling to mind glittering masks and diaphanous veils. And should you tire of one Andressa Glam, you can trade her in for another, since this beguiling light comes in four bodies: bright white, bright black, silver, or gold. Better still, if you seek a small luminescent amour, you can opt for the Glam 10, with a 35 cm height and a 21 cm diameter; if you go in for a more Boticelli-esque figure, choose the Glam 20, with a 46 cm height and a 29 cm diameter.

Modiss calls the family of lamps perfect for “open areas … as well as intimate spaces” — I imagine the Andressa Glam is the gloriously beautiful but seductively evil stepmother (think of the Queen in Snow White). Notwithstanding even Modessi’s overtly sexual language, the Andressa Glam does serve both small and large spaces equally well. It can attract attention from afar, its crystal shinning in opalescent glints, lending an air of Hollywood glamour to hotel lobbies, perhaps softening the hard lines of sleek feet or angular arms. It can also call attention to romantic nooks, anywhere from rubescent Asian restaurants to sanguinary Argentinian steakhouses; or boudoirs papered in flushed flocked fleur-de-lis.

While this post has been overflowing with decadence (I’m channeling Oscar Wilde at this point), the Andressa Glam demands such treatment. Designer Fontal offers a lamp that will soften our masochistic desires in its soft glow and intensify our sensual thirst with its gleam. The Andressa Glam provides the best of both worlds. For spaces big or small, open or closed, Fontal’s shimmering lamp can show itself off or highlight its surroundings–like a magnanimous narcissist, if there were such a creature.