Between 1968 and 1973, Wendell Castle – a designer already famous for his particularly outlandish, laminated wooden furniture – became fixated with wildly colourful plastics, becoming the only leading American designer of his time to use the material in high-end design. The results were breathtaking, his lamps – that were steeped in inspiration from pop-art, surrealism and hot-rod cars – known simply as Benny, Fat Albert, Sluggo, Pinkie, and Raquel would become icons of their generation and at the same time, highly collectible. Recently put back into limited production for the first time in 40 years, by New York’s R 20th Century, Castle’s sensational creations look as futuristic and perfectly unique as they did back then. Whether they’re sculpture that thinks it’s furniture, or furniture that thinks it’s sculpture – Wendell Castle’s utterly individual lamps are truly worthy of icon status…