Irregular Mirrors

What counts as irregular

Everything on this page has an outline you cannot name in one word. Pebble forms with a soft asymmetric edge, tapered shapes that are wider at one end than the other, and outlines that curve differently on each side. The common quality is that no two edges match, which is the opposite of what every other shape page here offers. It makes them behave less like a mirror and more like a piece of wall art that happens to reflect.

Frameless is the point

More of this range is frameless than framed, and on an irregular shape that matters more than it would elsewhere. With no frame the eye reads the silhouette directly, and the outline is the whole design. Add a border and you get a frame with an unusual shape, which is a different and quieter object. The framed pieces here tend to carry a slim modern profile in gold or black for the same reason: enough to define the edge, not enough to compete with it.

Where an irregular shape works

Living rooms take almost all of these, hallways close behind, and around two thirds suit a bedroom. The shape needs a wall that will let it be the thing you look at, so it does its best work on a plain stretch rather than among pictures or above a busy console. It is also the shape to reach for when a room is relentlessly rectangular. One asymmetric outline in a room of square doors and straight shelving does more than three round mirrors would.

Hanging something with no straight edge

This is the practical catch. An irregular mirror has no horizontal to line up and no centre you can measure to, so the usual method of levelling by eye does not work. Use the fixing points on the back rather than the outline: measure between them, mark the wall, and level those marks. Then step back before tightening, because with an asymmetric shape the visual centre is rarely the geometric one and a couple of centimetres either way changes how settled it looks.

Sizes, and giving it room

Large is the biggest group with a solid showing of medium pieces and a smaller number of extra large ones. Whatever the size, leave more clear wall around an irregular mirror than you would around a rectangle. A rectangular mirror can sit close to a door frame because the two lines agree; an asymmetric outline needs space for the eye to read the shape against the wall. If it is crowded, the shape stops being the feature and starts looking like a mistake.

Glass, finishes and care

Glass is in almost every one of these, with wood and metal in the framed pieces and a smaller group in composite. Gold is the largest finish group and black the next, which suits the shapes: both are outline colours rather than decorative ones. Cleaning is the usual routine with one addition. On a frameless piece the cut edge is exposed, so wipe along it rather than across it, and spray the cloth rather than the glass so nothing collects at the lowest point of the curve.