Fabric Pendant Lights

What makes a fabric pendant light work

Fabric is one of the oldest ways to shade a bulb, and it still works. A woven shade, whatever the cloth, filters light as it passes through, softening glare and spreading a warm glow across the room. Depending on the weave and colour, a fabric shade pendant light can let light through its sides or keep it directed down onto a table, which is why the idea suits a dining room as readily as a living room.

Fabric turns up in pendants in two main places. The first is the shade, where cloth is stretched over a frame or bonded to a lining. The second is the cord: a pendant light fabric cord wraps the cable in braided textile rather than plain plastic, which looks neater wherever the drop is on show.

Frames, linings and finishes

Every light in our range is a pendant with fabric in its make-up, and many combine that fabric with iron, a slim, strong material for a shade to hang from. Many also include PVC; in a drum shade, a stiff PVC lining is what keeps the cloth taut and the shape true. You will also find some with metal, glass, crystal or wood alongside the fabric.

Finishes vary from light to light. You will find some in white, black or grey, many in brass, gold or chrome, and a few in nickel, bronze or champagne, with antique, polished and satin sheens among them. Some lean modern and some traditional, and you will also find a few industrial and Scandinavian designs.

Choosing the right size and drop

Size matters more with a pendant than with a wall or table light, because it hangs in your line of sight. Over a dining table, a useful guide is a shade around half to two thirds the width of the table, hung so its base sits 75 to 85 centimetres above the tabletop. Where there is no table beneath, leave at least 2.1 metres from the floor so nobody walks into it.

Some of our lights are medium and some large, and you will also find a few in small and extra-large sizes. A large or extra-large shade suits a high ceiling or an open-plan room, while a smaller one sits well over a narrow table or in a row along a longer one. You will also find some three-light and four- or five-light designs, which spread light more evenly across a long table.

Bulbs, fittings and dimming

Many of our lights take an E27 bulb, the standard large screw cap. Some use the smaller E14 screw cap, and a few take a B22 bayonet. Check the fitting and maximum wattage listed for each light before you buy bulbs, and choose a bulb shape that sits clear of the fabric.

Most are dimmable, which is the easiest way to move from bright light for a meal to a low glow afterwards. Pair them with a dimmable bulb and a dimmer switch suited to LED loads, or the light may flicker or hum. An LED bulb also runs cool, which is kinder to a fabric shade over the years and helps stop the cloth yellowing near the bulb.

Where to hang them

Most of our fabric pendants are at home in a dining room or a living room, where a soft shade does its best work. You will also find a few suited to a bedroom, a hallway or a kitchen. Many are rated IP20, which means dry indoor rooms only, so keep them out of bathrooms and well away from the sink and hob, where steam and grease would mark the cloth in any case.

A fabric pendant lamp gives gentle, ambient light rather than a focused beam, so in a living room it pairs well with a floor or table lamp for reading. Hung low over a dining table, it pools light where you eat and keeps the rest of the room calm. Installation of a mains fitting is for a qualified electrician.

Caring for a fabric shade

Dust is the main thing to deal with. Switch the light off and let the bulb cool, then go over the shade every week or two with a soft brush, a lint roller or the upholstery nozzle of a vacuum on its lowest setting. Work from the top down so dust falls away from the part you have cleaned.

For a small mark, dab rather than rub with a barely damp cloth and a drop of mild soap, then let the shade dry fully before you switch on. Never soak it, as water can loosen the glue that holds the fabric to its lining. Wipe iron or metal parts with a soft dry cloth, and dust a braided fabric cord the same way as the shade.