Wooden Pendant Lights

What a wooden shade does to the light

A pendant hangs at eye level and is the fitting people notice first, so the shade material sets the room. Solid turned wood contains the light and pushes it straight down onto a table. Slatted and woven shades do the opposite: they let light escape between the strips and cast a patterned wash across the ceiling and walls. That is the choice worth making before any other: a solid shade lights a table, an open one lights a room. It is also why a single rattan pendant changes a room more than its size suggests.

Woven, slatted and turned

Woven rattan, bamboo and seagrass are the most common and the most forgiving, because the weave hides the bulb from most angles while staying physically light, which matters on a plasterboard ceiling. Slatted shades made of vertical timber strips give a sharper, more graphic shadow and hold their shape better over time, though they screen the bulb less at eye level. Turned solid wood is the quietest of the three and behaves like a metal shade, sending the light down in a defined pool with no spill through the shade itself, so it is the choice where you want the table lit and the rest of the room left alone.

Hanging height and spacing

Over a dining table, hang the base of the shade 700 to 900mm above the surface so it lights the table without blocking sightlines. Over an island the same range works, with a row of two or three spaced 600 to 800mm apart and set in from the ends so the row reads centred. Woven shades are usually wider than they look in a photograph, so check the diameter against the table before ordering a group.

Bulbs and glare through a weave

Most take a standard E27, bought separately. Warm white around 2700K suits every wood and natural fibre we stock. Behind an open weave choose an opal or frosted bulb rather than a clear filament: a bare coil seen through gaps in rattan is uncomfortable at eye level over a table, however well it photographs. Check the maximum wattage stated on the fitting.

Weight, ceilings and sloped rooms

Woven shades are among the lightest fittings we sell, which makes them one of the easier choices for a plasterboard ceiling. Solid turned wood is heavier and wants a joist or a batten. Either way check the stated weight against your fixing, and treat an existing ceiling rose as unproven until you know what is behind it. On a sloped ceiling you need a canopy that can angle, so check the description.

Kitchens, steam and heat

Natural fibre and timber do not like sustained steam, so a woven pendant directly over a hob is a poor choice even where the regulations allow it. Over an island or a table it is fine. Keep any shade well clear of the lamp itself and observe the stated maximum wattage: a fibre shade with an oversized bulb in it is the one genuine safety point on this page.

Care and colour over time

Dust a woven shade with a soft brush or a vacuum on a low setting rather than a cloth, which catches on the weave and pulls strands loose. Rattan and bamboo lighten gradually in strong daylight and can dry out and become brittle in a room kept very dry, so a kitchen with normal cooking humidity actually suits them better than a heated hallway. Wipe solid timber dry and avoid polish on an oiled finish. If a woven shade loses its shape slightly in the first weeks, that is the fibre relaxing into its final form rather than a fault.