Plaster Lights

Why plaster and gypsum fittings blend into the wall

The point of a plaster light is that it stops looking like a light. Most of our range is made from gypsum, the same family of material used in plaster walls and skim coats, so the fitting takes filler and paint in the same way the wall around it does. Once it is decorated in your wall colour, the body of the fitting reads as part of the plaster rather than a separate object screwed on top.

That blending-in works in two directions. Paintable designs such as the cylindrical up and down light and our curved and cuboid up and down wall lights are meant to be finished on site, so they take whatever colour the rest of the wall is wearing. Trimless and recessed designs go a step further by sitting flush in the surface with no visible bezel, which removes the shadow line you get around a standard plate.

Recessed plaster versus surface gypsum designs

Our range splits into two jobs. Recessed plaster fittings, including the trimless recessed wall lights and the round and square recessed downlights, are built into a cut-out so the front face finishes level with the plaster. The single tilt round trimless downlight and the recessed rectangular and round wall lights all work this way, which is why they suit ceilings and walls where you want the light source and not the housing to be the only thing on show.

Surface-mounted gypsum designs sit on the wall or ceiling rather than inside it. The square surface downlight and the various up and down wall lights mount onto the surface, so they give you the plaster look without the cut-out and the deeper void that a recessed fitting needs behind it. If your wall is solid or the cavity is shallow, a surface design is usually the more straightforward choice.

The downlights in this range come in a spread of sizes. We list round and square options from roughly 78mm and 79mm up to 120mm, with a larger square plaster downlight at 20cm, so you can match the size to the joist spacing and the look you are after. Because the housing is plaster rather than a metal can, you fill and decorate around the edge and the join effectively vanishes, which is the part a standard recessed fitting cannot do.

Up and down wall washers for halls and living rooms

A large part of our range is up and down wall lights that throw light in both directions to wash the wall above and below the fitting. The cylindrical, cuboid and curved up and down designs all work this way, and they suit hallways, stairwells and living rooms where you want soft ambient light grazing the wall rather than a bright single point. Further wall lights sit alongside them in the same white plaster finish. Many are tagged for warm white, which keeps the wash gentle against a painted finish.

Mounting height is a matter of taste rather than rule, but for a corridor wash we tend to suggest fitting at roughly eye level or a little above so the upward and downward beams have room to spread. Spacing the fittings evenly along a run gives a more even rhythm of light than clustering them.

Finishes, fittings and the brands we stock

The range is white throughout, with some designs listed in matt white, and several fittings are sold as paintable and ready for your own colour. Bodies are gypsum or plaster, and some designs also use metal. Light sources run to GU10 and G9 lamp holders on the lamped designs, while some recessed wall lights are integrated LED. Many are dimmable, so check the individual product page if you are pairing them with a dimmer.

Our plaster and gypsum fittings run from paintable up and down washers to trimless recessed downlights, so you can work in a consistent finish across walls and ceilings. Sizes are mostly small, with recessed downlights listed from around 78mm up to 120mm, curved wall lights at 180mm and 200mm and many wall designs in the 30cm to 50cm width band, so they stay in proportion on a typical wall. Every fitting in this range is rated IP20 for indoor use, which keeps them to dry rooms rather than bathrooms or outside.