This week, I did an explainer video about measuring the height if you order a custom-made lampshade from me and it’s going to the USA.
Top tip for measuring. Measure both the overall shade height desired and the measurement from the base of your harp to where the screw of the finial attaches to the lampshade ring.
We want to avoid your lampshade coming up to short. UK fittings have about a 2″ margin and US fittings have about an 1″
Depending on the size of your harp I would do any lamp shorter than 20cm if you have a 6″ or 5 ” harp.
Most of the lampshades currently in the shop are 15cm in height as I created them to be small enough to fit onto shelves.
I might in future create more lampshades of 20cm in height and wider selection of widths.
I’ve been enhancing my photography. The aim is to tell a story in small vignettes. I’ve been learning from iconic professional photographers who specialise in products, lifestyle and jewelry photographs. I’ve learned my photography from various courses online and in classroom settings in London.
Why did I start designing and making elegant lampshades that soften our office table lamps? Here I recall three parts of a conversation forming reasons why I found it vital to begin this quest and where I am now.
In 2012, I complained to an interior design/ architect friend (I was sharing a Chelsea office with) that we saw too much hard surfaces in office decor (albeit for durability and health and safety) when organisations should be enacting the softening up to echo their espoused prioritisation for well-being and more human side of organisational life.
I uploaded youtube videos to clarify how the fittings work. Below are videos that answer frequently asked questions. The first one answers the question to show how my lampshades fit on your lamp bases. Please drop me a line if you have additional questions about the fittings.
I’ve started to integrate my two arts. In psychology, that’s a good thing to do to become whole. But I thought about that after and not before I did it.
I have integrated my graffiti art onto my lampshades. They look rather cool. I noticed my curly cursive writing when using paint and how it has a unique style of its own despite my dyspraxia dyslexia which allows the lines and the curves to take on another life of their own.
I was also inspired by a question in our Facebook group for lampshade makers. Someone had asked how to display the lampshades when they go to fairs. This question comes up often. The idea to use mannequins to display the maker’s lampshades came up, and I scoffed at the response, thinking it was that gimmicky, and I couldn’t imagine how that might look. It might look hideous and distract from the shades for the person asking. And I also thought that lagging the mannequins around and putting them together at the fair was difficult.
The person had large shades about 30cm 40 cm wide, and ultimately, the look would have been very Ascot-like, as if the manikins were wearing wide-brimmed hats.
Then I didn’t think about it again until I had to take some images for my 15 cm lampshades for the desks of stylish professionals and their statement yet cosey task lighting. I was searching for inspiration and realised that sitting across from me was a head figure I bought from a trendy interior designer, Abigail Ahern’s shop. I promptly placed one of the lampshades on the statue, which did seem like sacrilege a bit at first.
However, after some thinking about it, I realised how fitting and natural it was., Seeing a statue of a magnificent African woman or woman with African heritage with a tall cylindrical object on the head reminds me of what I saw when I visited Africa. I travelled on a Kenya safari and spent some time in Nigeria for work. Seeing a magnificent woman walking around with a cylindrical bucket containing water, shopping or goods for the markets on their head was normal. But it always pains me that the cylindrical buckets the African women (children too and young men to a lesser extent) normally have on their heads were often some garish yellow or blue plastic unimaginative vessels.
Looking at my graffiti lampshades on the figurine in more depth; I began to take pride in what my eyes were seeing. Noticing how my graffiti artwork on the lampshades then placed on the African woman’s head felt like fantastical art because it depicted a more luxurious scene, albeit slightly surreal.
I imagined myself as an African woman and recalled what I saw in the ritual of attending church and weddings and wearing big wrappers that acted like gigantic fabric expressions of a crown. The look is awesome.
But what if there could be something like my beautiful cylindrical vessels (lampshades) that the African women could continue deftly carrying on their heads as they go about their daily life and l chores?
It dawned on me that perhaps my placing of lampshades with graffiti art on sculpture together is another form of fantastical black art. It is indeed my fantasy that those wonderful ladies I saw in Africa had something more glamorous as a vessel to carry on their heads. I would like them to freely cast away those horrible unimaginative plastic yellow buckets and go for something more considered in its design.
Those women are very entrepreneurial and perhaps like taxi drivers in London; they could get the carrying vessels of their future sponsored by local businesses, and a local creative person might be able to use top calligraphy skills and design competence to embellish their vessels with more beautiful graphics that become useful communication collateral for local businesses. Ultimately their new carrier vessel earns revenue through advertising the local firm.
I’m going to look into it and see how I can help. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if the women have probably already done it because African women are reported to be highly entrepreneurial. But I would like to get an insight into what African friends think of my fantastical black art (graffiti lampshades on African head sculptures) and the extent to which it reflects the 21st-century African and African women’s vessels they carry around on their heads.
I had an aha moment when reflecting on the look of my shop. I noticed that it was vital to make it easier for my shopping list to find things they want. So I organised the collection by Design.
You will see from the pictures that I have a collection of at least five types. There is the line of Empire framed lampshades, these are new. I also have a collection of metal trimmed lamp shades with beautiful vintage crystal inserts. The collection of drum lampshades is stunning and they are organised by their design of having a simple decorative metal trim. The classical beautiful Victorian lampshades are always popular they get a lot of likes and they are organised under Victorian lampshades, I hand-stitched and stretch these. They are a lot harder to create that’s why they are a bit more expensive to buy. And lastly, there is the collection of stunning table lamps that come already with a plug and you simply just plug it in to get your lighting. With those table lamps, there is no need to buy a lamp base. You just need a socket to plug it in.
Lampshades for cool home office desks organised by design
I hope people find it easier and enjoyable to browse these unique lampshades I designed to add drama to meeting scenes. Amazing backdrops are great ice breakers and they allow the beauty of our personalities to quietly shine.
I shared a video of lux interior designer Sophie Paterson talking us through her husband’s home office decor. I love that she did dark walls and combined the look with a few pieces of antique brown furniture. You can see in this picture I am trying out shades of dark paint as I love that inky almost black look but cannot decide on red/purple inky black or blue inky black.
The video SP refers to a couple of plain and simple square/ oblong lampshades, she got redone. And in the background, you can see some coolie french bell-type shades. See my finger-pointing on the left.
I probably would have been bolder with my lampshade choice. If it were me I would have gone for the taupe shades with amber or the straw in a small oblong or round shape, made of fabric like the ones below. It’s probably that she didn’t want to take away the attention from the beautiful ornate lamp base but I wonder if something in a plain light blue to echo the light tones in the wallpaper and in the blue in the base might have tied these lovely elements together more tightly.
Both the taupe and straw lampshades are available in the shop now. Here
I’ts Christmas and I’m very excited this season to have designed and made these sustainable lampshades. I created them out of recycled upholstery nails and my favourite banana fabric. I mainly designed them to be a modern development to the traditional banker’s lamp. You know the one I mean, they’re the old green glass shade and bulbous brass lamp base that fit traditional victorian inspired office spaces.
Multi values
These new desk lampshades I love because they are sleek, modern and fit the mid-century trend as well as fit in with traditional spaces as well as those with apartments with a minimalistic vibe. They will be available to buy on my Etsy shop Home Office Charm in early January 2020
A five-year journey
I got the inspiration for the form of the new collection of the sustainable lampshade from a traditional handstitched version I did (see image below).
Hand-stitched banana fibre lampshade at Earth Shine arts by Home Office Charm
Over the years, I’ve enjoyed its warm golden glow as my bedside table lamp. I knew it would be appealing after hearing the reaction to it while I had it on display at West London interiors showrooms. It was also a favourite shade in my Etsy shop. I had to price it high ( the soft hand-stitched version) as it took me ages to make and it hurt my thumbs along the way. I vowed never to make it again. But I was so enamoured with the warm glow that the shade generated I wanted others to experience it too.
So to make it easier for more people to buy and so that I could make more of them while fitting in with my earth shiny vibe, I created the new collection. I dreamed up the new collection and experimented with these sustainable lampshades at weekends and evenings to fit around my full-time work. I attended courses this year on wiring and batch make them during high days and holidays. I’m so excited to hear what other people think of them when they get listed in my Etsy shop from January 2020.
Excited that my photography skills are developing. It’s all that Instagraming I’ve been doing.
Anyway I thought I’d take a quick snap of the fabric. I’m using a Ralph Lauren that I got from the Designers’ Guild Autumn sale together with their natty gold and cotton trim.
I love the symbolic juxtaposition of the two fabric thread gold and hessian or Burlap as the Americans say.
I’m beginning to feel that the shades I make, create such a statement that they are infact ornamental in themselves and don’t need a base.
My passion for trimmings and tassels continue.
If you have any questions or comments about handmade lampshades with trimmings and tassels please drop me a line.
The frames are upcycled and stripped back and re bound.
Home Office Charm 
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