Robin Lamps

About Robin Lamps

Robin Lamps was founded in 2021, by and for people who love professional interior design. The company designs and assembles its lights in Barcelona, and it aims to source as many of its components locally as it can.

Its lights put the focus on materials, with iron, glass, alabaster, wood and fabric among them. That makes Robin lighting a good fit if you choose a light the way you might choose a chair, by how it looks and feels as much as by what it does.

Iron, glass and alabaster

Many of our Robin lights are built on iron. It is strong enough to hold a slim frame without bulk, and it takes a painted or matt finish well, which is why it works as well in a quiet corner as over a busy dining table.

Some are made with glass, and a few use opal glass, a milky white glass that softens a bulb into an even glow with no hard bright spot. A few are made with alabaster, a soft, translucent stone whose natural veins show when the light is on, so no two pieces look quite alike. You will also find a few in aluminium, wood or fabric, where a fabric shade spreads a gentle, diffused light.

Finishes and colours

Finishes differ from light to light. Some have a matt finish, which keeps reflections down and lets the shape of the light speak for itself. Some come in black or white, easy colours to place against painted walls and pale woods, and a few in gold or brass for a warmer gleam. A few bring in colour, with green and orange among them, and one of those can work as a bright note in a calm room.

Robin pendant lights, wall lights and lamps

Some of our Robin lights are pendants, which do their best work over a dining table or in the centre of a living room, where light needs to reach the whole space. Hung in a row or alone, a pendant sets the tone for the room.

Some are wall lights, a good way to layer light around a living room without adding another fitting to the ceiling. Some suit a bedroom too, where wall lights either side of the bed leave the bedside tables clear. You will also find a few ceiling lights and chandeliers to serve as the main light in a room, and a few table and floor lamps to add pools of light beside a sofa or a reading chair.

Choosing size, height and placement

Start with the room and the job. Most of our Robin lights give ambient light, the soft, general light that fills a room, so they work best in layers: a pendant or ceiling light for the main glow, then wall lights and lamps lower down to warm the corners and soften shadows.

Over a dining table, hang a pendant so its base sits roughly 75 to 85 cm above the tabletop, and look for a width of about a third to half that of the table. In a walkway, leave at least 2.1 m of headroom underneath. Wall lights usually sit around 1.5 to 1.7 m from the floor, a little higher in a tall room, so they wash the wall without glaring.

Bulbs, colour temperature and dimming

Check the bulb fitting before you buy. Some take G9 bulbs, small capsule bulbs that suit slim glass shades; some take GX53, a flat disc bulb that sits close to the fitting; and a few take a standard E27 screw bulb or a GU10 spot. Some have an integrated LED, so there is no bulb to change.

Some give warm white light, the soft, slightly golden tone many people like for evenings at home. A few are dimmable and some are not, so check the details of any light you have in mind before pairing it with a dimmer. A dimmable LED light works best with a dimmer switch made for LED loads, which helps avoid flicker and hum.

Care and cleaning

Most of our Robin lights are rated IP20, a rating with no protection against water, so they belong in dry indoor rooms: keep them out of bathrooms and anywhere they could be splashed. Installing a mains fitting is a job for a qualified electrician. Before cleaning, switch off and let the light cool.

Dust iron and aluminium with a soft, dry cloth, and wipe glass with a barely damp cloth before drying it to avoid streaks. Alabaster is soft and porous, so use only a dry cloth or a soft brush, and never water, polish or cleaning sprays. Wood needs only a dry cloth, and a fabric shade stays fresh with a lint roller or a soft brush on a low vacuum.