Hi Nigel,
I'm really happy you found my tut useful, I've learned a lot of things myself making it.

>>One thing I noted in the tutorial was the tutorial author extruding the curves then doing the boolean difference command. I found this wasn't necessary. The curve is projected through the base object as if it was extruded.

You're right, MoI's got this interesting capability of project/trimming curves and solids that's a big time-saver, but for a beginner it could have been rather confusing not to see the actual shape I was going to carve away from the various pieces, so, in order to keep things as clear as possible I decided not to skip the extruding step. Of course, an expert user could do this lamp in half the steps I've made it in the tutorial...

Congrats! Your render turned out very well. Btw, I have been a C4D enthusiast since its early days. Wish I had time to spend in polymodelling as well...:)

All the best
Daniele