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Jeff Sigler's career trajectory has been unusual. With a degree in economics from the U.S. Naval Academy and after nearly a decade as a navigator on high-tech aircraft that communicate with submarines, the 37-year-old Alexandria entrepreneur charted a new course as an artist/designer.

In 1993, Sigler started Alles Designs, a company that combines his interests in lighting, craftsmanship, photography and art. "Originally, it was going to be Allen Designs, for my middle name," he said, "but at the last minute, I dropped the N from Allen and added the S from Sigler and realized that made a word in German--which means everything--and that's what I do."

His lamps, especially the tabletop torchieres that are his specialty, have been seen in juried furniture shows in New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Providence, R.I..

This month, he signed on with the startup online vendor Artfulstyle.com, which launched its Web site last week with a national roster of about 100 artists showing more than 1,000 pieces of their work, from paintings and pottery to studio furniture and crafts.

Sigler's lamp shades are fashioned from sheets of 1/64-inch birch plywood bent into shapes that seem to come alive in flames when the light is switched on.

"I sew it, I glue it, I rivet it. I do anything you can think of to wood, and some things you wouldn't think of," he says. "People see the luminescent quality and can't believe it's really wood."

Placed atop pedestals of wood finished in pewter or bronze or on a marble base, the lamps retail for $300 to $500. Custom designs, such as the chandelier he recently completed, run about 50 percent more, he says. His designs are available at Apartment Zero in downtown Washington (202-628-4067).

These days, Sigler participates in about five national shows "about evenly spaced throughout the year," he says, including this week's prestigious San Francisco Furniture Show, sponsored by the American Craft Council.