Lighting Inspiration: Pendant and Chandelier Edition
It goes without saying that selecting lighting for our projects is one of the most exciting and fun parts of the job. With the variety of finishes, materials, and even bulb options, it is always amazing to see how far manufacturers will go with their creativity. Interesting light fixtures can become the focal point of a room, a conversation piece and the perfect finishing touch to tie a space together. Below we’ve highlighted a few of our favorite lighting vendors, which we’ve gone to time and again for our projects, whose honest and interesting use of materials lends itself to awe inspiring pieces. Check out our list below for some lighting inspiration, tips, and a bit of sparkle.
Alison Berger designs light fixtures that are simultaneously simple and ornate. While not adorned with classic decoration, the way she uses metal and glass together creates dynamic fixtures. The silhouettes of her fixtures create such strong forms and have a beautiful interplay with light.
These fixtures show that an interesting or eye-catching chandelier or pendant doesn’t necessarily have to be visually heavy. The Cage Pendant is given substance, ironically, by its thin class shade. The Bow Chandelier dominates your attention but the metal frame and the glass shades aren’t obtrusive.
John Pomp draws the inspiration for his fixtures from the organic imperfections found in nature. John transforms “perfectly imperfect” into signatures of his creations, which are fragile and ethereal, yet purposeful and confident.
Each of his fixtures do justice to and highlight the hand-made process in which they are made. The gentle ripples in the glass, the wavy quality of the shapes and the silky quality of the threading gives these pendants and chandeliers a sense of life. As with these, pendants can be clustered together to create a chandelier and textured glass always adds a subtle touch of visual interest to any space.
A love of classicism and industrial design sets the tone for the Jonathan Browning collections. Timeless and elegant, these fixtures are manufactured to the highest of standards and most thorough production processes, and are meant to last forever.
While these fixtures are worked on by hand, the precision and perfection of their forms makes them seem machined. Small details such as the joining of two metals, hand-carved glass etching, and gem-like crystal glass faces are a testament to the quality of these fixtures. If you’re looking to really illuminate a space, a gem effect on glass will help. Also, if you only have one J-box for a pendant but want to get as much light as possible, look for a fixture that has multiple sources of light like the Apollinaire 2 Light Pendant.
PELLE is an independent design studio that combines the practices of art and engineering to create expressive design objects. Integrating artistic exploration with architectural integrity, PELLE offers an original collection of hand-produced, professionally refined pieces.
With styles and aesthetics ranging from playful to sleek, PELLE fixtures have one thing in common between them – they are impeccably stylish. Their fixtures are offered as LEDs and self-calibrate, but remember to ask your electrician if an adapter is needed before installing any LED fixture in your home. Many times, if your home wasn’t built or updated recently, the existing wiring won’t support direct installation of an LED fixture.
Useful tips
- When placing a chandelier above a dining table or any horizontal surface, it should fit comfortably within the boundaries of that surface. Going with anything larger can make the items look out of proportion and unbalanced.
- When hanging any suspended light fixture, the rule of thumb for overall hanging length is about 30-34 inches over a table for areas with 8-foot-high ceilings. Add 3 inches for every foot above 8 feet.
- Always check to see if the overall height of your light fixture can be adjusted on site or needs to be determined before ordering. If it needs to be determined before ordering, double check the hanging dimensions because you may not be able to cancel the order once it is in production.
