Materials, Defined With Purpose

Glass can reveal the lamp, soften it or transform the entire shade into a luminous volume.

Its colour, thickness, forming method and surface treatment determine how clearly the source is seen and how highlights travel across the fixture. The correct choice is not always the clearest glass; it is the glass that makes the intended light possible.

Glass, not acrylic: Glass offers a harder, more scratch-resistant surface, stronger heat stability and crisper refraction, so texture and highlights retain greater optical depth. Acrylic is lighter and more impact-resistant, but it scratches more readily and may lose clarity or yellow with prolonged heat and UV exposure.

Metal gives a fixture strength, precision and visual weight.

Its surface changes the light around it: polished finishes create sharper highlights, brushed finishes soften reflection and textured finishes break it into quieter tonal variation.

A colour name is not a complete material description. “Brass” may mean solid brass, brass-plated steel, PVD-coated metal or a painted brass tone.

Travertine brings mineral weight, soft banding and open pore structure to lighting.

It is primarily opaque. Instead of glowing from within, its matte surface catches grazing light and returns a quiet, low-glare reflection.

Printed ceramic, resin and composite stone may copy the colour but not necessarily the pore depth, edge character or response to grazing light.

Natural alabaster is a fine-grained, translucent stone.

When illuminated through a controlled thickness, its mineral structure becomes visible and the surface takes on a soft, low-glare glow. The most useful comparison shows the same verified material switched off, illuminated and viewed from the edge.

Natural alabaster, not an imitation: Light travels through real mineral crystals and non-repeating veining, creating layered depth and subtle variation unique to each piece. Resin, acrylic and printed stone effects can be lighter and more uniform, but their repeated pattern and even diffusion do not reproduce the same crystalline depth.

Ceramic allows the body and surface of a fixture to be developed together.

Most decorative ceramic bodies are opaque. Matte glazes create quieter reflection, glossy glazes produce brighter highlights and textured clay becomes more pronounced under grazing light.

Ceramic, not concrete: Fired ceramic supports finer forms, cleaner edges and a wider range of durable matte, gloss and textured glazes. Its sealed surface is easier to clean and reflects light with more controlled colour and depth, while concrete is typically heavier, more porous and opaque.

A fabric shade filters light through fibre, weave and lining.

Open weaves reveal more texture and brighter points of light. Dense weaves create a quieter, more even glow. A lining can control colour shift and improve illuminated consistency.

Capiz shell filters light through thin natural layers.

Cut size, thickness, overlap, joining and backing determine whether the finished fixture feels delicate, rhythmic or densely luminous. Genuine shell carries irregular mineral depth and non-repeating translucency.

Material grade, strand preparation, weave spacing and frame tension determine silhouette and shadow.

Rattan filters rather than fully diffuses light. An open weave produces brighter, more graphic shadows; a denser weave reduces source visibility and creates a quieter effect.