The Magical White Paper Lantern

‘Ubiquitous’ would be a good word for the paper lantern. Possibly one of the cheapest ways to shroud a bare light bulb you might find hanging from your ceiling. So popular that there are websites dedicated to it – Paper Lantern Store, The Hanging Lantern Company, and the Paper Lantern Company. Every size, any colour, and on Amazon they cost about £1.50 each… 

But why am I writing about these? Well on its own, one of these is not that special, but if you carefully arrange a host of them about the ceiling… How about this one, from slowlanenotes.blogspot.com:

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Then if you fancy trying this yourself, have a read of ‘DIYable design: clustered paper lanterns’ by Mr Kate, from whence this inspirational picture: 

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(and whilst you’re there take a look at the article on turning top hats into lanterns – I kid you not.)

They look best bunched together with no space between them. There’s plenty of photos on Google showing paper lanterns ‘en mass’ used for wedding marquees, but they all seem to spread the lanterns thinly which looses the effect. You also have to watch the tendency for them to look like giant wasp nests, which could be quite alarming:

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Finally there’s the option to paint or decorate your lanterns to match your decor or provide an artistic focus to the room. Remodelista.com has a great article on this, with 5 DIY ideas and some imaginatively painted lanterns, such as this:

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as well as links to further websites on the subject.

Lighting as sculpture, sculpture as lighting

OK on the last entry I suggested that I had not met sculpture as lighting before. Then I just remembered the Jack light by Tom Dixon. It’s described as a ‘sitting, stacking, lighting thing’, and at first sight you would not think it a light. Its more of a stool / sculpture that just happens to double as a light. It reminds me of something I recently saw on ebay – a Kartell ‘Bubble Club’ sofa which the owner had cut a small hole in the back and stuck a light bulb inside it…. Does that make the sofa a light as well? And yes the Jack light is a piece of plastic furniture with a light stuck inside it, but it’s now an icon of modern design as proven by the fact that you can now buy a 12cm replica in solid copper from Heals.

So checking Pinterest for ‘sculptural lighting‘ turns up a very long list of lights which are a bit sculptural, but definitely lights. But then if you hang it from the ceiling on a piece of electrical flex, its a bit of a giveaway. Wall mounted is easier since its not that unusual to have wall mounted sculpture. One good example would be the ‘Yet’ wall light from Foscarini – it looks like a plastic letter Y, is available in different colours, and looks best when combined in groups. But free standing objects such as the OUPS I mentioned in my last post give the most freedom to expand the ‘sculpture as lighting’ boundaries. After 5 minutes scanning through the Google images for ‘sculpture as lighting’, I find it hard to find something that is not a ‘light sculpture’ in some way. The majority are sculptures which use light as their main medium, or possibly as an extra bit of ‘wow’ factor. I did however find one sculpture where the lighting aspect is integral to the meaning of the piece, and that is ‘Expansion’ by Paige Bradley. Possibly the perfect mix of sculpture and light IMHO.

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OUPS by Nathalie Be

I am used to lights that look like lights. Its on the wall or ceiling and you could point to it and say ‘thats a light’. But thanks to this months World of Interiors, i have just discovered that there is another way, and here it is:

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This is the OUPS floor lamp designed by Nathalie Be – more of a sculpture that happens to be a light. Its available in four colour ways, with either red, blue, white or silver ‘paint’ and co-ordinating bucket colours, from Darwins Home for £361. For more info on Nathalie and her products see this website (in French) or for a short bio theres more on the Darwins Home website here.

I’m going to have a look through Darwins Home website to see what other wonders they have….

 

Flos 265 – “the perfect light for double height”

Continuing my personal favourites list… The Flos 265 is the perfect solution for a very specific problem – double height spaces. There are several ways to provide intimate lighting in a room with high ceilings, but if you prefer to keep your floors clear of the clutter of standard lamps, and you tables clear of table lamps, this is for you. But rather than waste a thousand words describing it, here’s a photo:

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There. A light on the end of a very long stick. But the great thing here is the flexibility. The head of the light can be positioned almost anywhere, thanks to a very flexible mounting bracket which you can just see on the right of the picture. The arm is just over 2m long, so can reach right out into the room, or it can be folded flat back against the wall. And flexibility like this is awesome – it means you can move your furniture around and NOT have to change the lighting!

Currently this is in the Heals lighting sale at £538, though normally £633, and details specification can be found on the Flos website (where you can also find more inspiring photos of the 265).

Fatboy Rockcoco – aka Louis Ghost Light

Something seasonal this time. It being nearly summer and fairly warm outside, you might quite understandably be wondering if you can get a Louis XV style chandelier for outdoor use…. And as luck would have it, Fatboy (makers of beanbags and non-flying carpets) are dipping their toes into the waters of light (ing). Their outdoor chandelier might as well have been designed by Philippe Starke as an accompaniment for Louis Ghost chairs, being essentially clear plastic in the shape of an antique. Luckily Fatboy have saved anyone from making this mistake by using red lighting cable inside the light, and putting a trademark ‘Fatboy’ label on the side of it.

Anyway, this being an outdoor light, it is waterproof and dimmable (with the Fatboy dimmer remote control!). So there’s no reason why you couldn’t use this in your bathroom either. Also it uses LED bulbs (for anyone worried about their electricity bills).

There’s plenty of lovely photos of it on the Fatboy website but here’s one just to get you interested:

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Price £439 and available to buy on the Fatboy website right now.

Urban Electric Company and a Porcelain Bear

The July issue of World of Interiors was going just fine right up to page 15. Then I stumbled over not one but two lighting curiosities.

First, there was a range of porcelain pendant fittings which were “inspired by Playschool’s windows”. So just to recap, that’s the children’s TV show that I watched when very small, and for all I know is still on TV now…. Here’s the windows:

And here’s the lights:

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For more details see this blog.

Then the next light from WOI is I think taking the industrial look a bit far. Well I am fairly sure that ‘henhouse chic’ has yet to be invented:

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Yes, that’s chicken wire…

And for more details on this light see the Urban Electric Company website.

 

 

Flos Easy Kap Wallwasher

There is a wide choice of lights which can be classed as ‘wall washer’. The idea is that your light fitting throws a sheet of light onto a wall, lighting your room through reflected light. It can also be a good way of lighting pictures with a more diffused light than the usual spot light.

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The Flos Easy Kap wall washer has a couple of nice features. It’s circular; there is minimal framing visible around the recessed source (and if you are brave enough to fit the ‘Kap’ version, there is NO visible framing); but best of all it’s available in several colours (black, white, gold and blue) which give you freedom to subtly match it with your decor.

product_Flos_Architectural_Kap_AN_03_4455_74063561_jpgThe one downside of this light is that it does need careful fitting. Any chips in the plaster around the circular cutout will be seen!

This is from the Flos Architectural range, so it’s best found through a Flos dealer. The people at Scossa are very helpful so start there! To view the other models in this range, try dmlights.

 

 

 

Ikea PS Maskros

I have had both good and bad experiences with Ikea lighting, but for now I just want to applaud one particular light. Its this:

Also known as the PS Maskros, and for more details see http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80146249/.

It’s about 3′ diameter, and designed to look like the head of a dandelion. It’s a big beastie, so you do need either high ceilings or a double height space. But if you can accommodate it, you will find its more a sculpture than a light fitting. At night it casts some beautiful shadows on the walls. So really its more of a decorative fitting than an ambient light source….

It has the usual bulky Ikea ceiling fitting, but you can always change this for a more subtle version. And if you have the patience you can also change the cable to something more interesting, for example the pea green fabric lighting flex from Urban Cottage Industries looks great (http://www.urbancottageindustries.com/historic-lighting/fabric-cable/pea-green-fabric-lighting-flex-cable-round).

Low Energy Filament bulb finally available for the Industrial and Vintage fans

OK this is more of a news story than a ‘favourite light’. Urban Cottage Industries are now selling a ‘low energy’ alternative to the currently very hip filament bulb. For anyone looking for the industrial look this has become an essential, but until now has only been available as a traditional wire filament bulb.

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The UCI version boasts the following stats:
– 25,000 hours predicted lifetime
– 7.7 watts energy consumption but equivalent to 60w output
– dimmable (see UCI website for more detail)

The only hiccup is the price, which is £30 instead of £17 for the original version. And its currently only available as a E27 / ES / Screw fitting, though the bayonet version is imminent. There will also be a brass ‘skirt’ that covers the bulky part of the bulb, available soon.

For all details and online purchase please go to the UCI website – http://www.urbancottageindustries.com/eco-filament-caret-lamp

And whilst you’re there take a look at their amazing range of fabric cables and reproduction historic lighting.

 

Flos Pochette

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Definitely one of my favourites this. It illuminates your room by throwing a splash of light up the wall above it, and spills just a small amount down the wall below. Mounting it just below the ceiling allows the light to reflect downwards too – see photo.

It’s fairly compact, but takes up to 160w pencil shaped ‘R7s’ halogen bulb. It’s also available in a number of finishes which currently include white, grey and chrome. I have a sleek bronze finish version which sits beautifully against slate wall tiles.
This is widely available to buy, including Amazon, but try Scossa – http://www.scossa.co.uk/contemporary-lighting/wall-lighting/flos-pochette-up-and-down.html.