An Expert’s Guide to Lighting

I'd always had a niggling desire to start something of my own, although my background was in the art world rather than design, so I’m woefully untrained. I spent most of my career in the art world at The Fine Art Society, dealing predominantly in decorative arts, and also helped designer Tobias Vernon set up 8 Holland Street, an art and design store. Being surrounded by the wild and wonderful objects and furniture in both these contexts was incredibly influential. The idea for Palefire started simmering over time as I became increasingly interested in making something myself, particularly functional objects with a very decorative, painterly element. As with many people, the pandemic gave me the rather reckless push I needed. I quit my job in autumn 2020, spent the following year developing the first collection and launched Palefire in October 2021.

I am obsessed with lighting, of course. This became particularly apparent when renovating our home where I have probably gone overkill on lights (with excess in the cupboards in the loft!). Finding the lighting I wanted was not straightforward. There was a huge gulf between the luxury statement lighting at one end and fairly uninspiring, mass-produced pieces at the other. I found myself constantly looking for vintage lights which had more character but were affordable. Interesting lighting also had the ability to tread the fine line between sculpture, design and decoration. A light has to perform a function but it can also be an artwork in its own right, and completely change the atmosphere of a room. I wanted to operate in that crossover space and at the time there was very little available on the market.

My references are vastly wide-ranging – art, architecture, historic design, textiles and fashion. I have gathered an enormous archive of references, that might sit there for a long time before they find their way into a design. Our latest collection, Gala, began with a desire to create something celebratory and animated. I was looking at everything from Calder's mobiles to flags and festive markers, alongside Italian mid-century lighting. The challenge was to translate that sense of movement and joy into something functional, using quite simple graphic shapes. There is usually quite a lot of editing involved. I'm interested in how much you can achieve with relatively few elements.

Our shades and sculptural bodies are made from moulded recycled paper pulp, which is produced for us by a wonderful small workshop in Spain. They've been making paper-pulp products since the nineteenth century, although lighting is rather outside their usual remit. The material is made from 100% recycled paper and cardboard mixed with water, which is injected into moulds and then air-dried. The pieces arrive at our studio in Camberwell, South London, where we hand-paint each one to order. Our metal and electrical components are made by specialist manufacturers, including a family-run factory in Birmingham, and the lights are then assembled in South London. It's quite a collaborative process, involving a network of small workshops with very different areas of expertise.

I think it would have to be the Garland pendant from our new Gala collection. I had wanted to create something more glamorous, on a much grander scale, for quite some time. It is really our take on a chandelier and feels like a real departure for us in terms of its construction and ambition. It was also rather a challenge to develop. The shades can be rotated and repositioned individually, so we had to find a way of making the whole structure feel light and effortless whilst incorporating quite a lot of engineering. The result is something that feels almost animated, with these little cones pointing in different directions, rather like flags caught in the wind.

In my own living room, I slightly counterintuitively started with a ceiling pendant which is barely used. However, it hangs low in the room, over our coffee table and seems to draw everything together. It is a mid-century, Murano glass pendant, in an unusual, stepped shape with bright blue stripes. I felt the room needed this kind of sculptural statement to set it off. But a living room needs layers so we also have a pair of giant vintage Habitat table lamps next to the sofa, a pair of lightboxes using antique magic lantern slides in the niches either side of our fireplace and I love using our mini Palefire Diabolo uplighters on the bookshelves. Having several light sources working in different directions is particularly important in a living room to create the right ambience.

Bedside table or wall lamps are the key fitting in any bedroom. In most modest bedrooms other lighting is mostly functional – overhead, wardrobe or mirror lighting – but bedside lights are a moment for beauty. For our bedroom I chose to use our Palefire Parasol table lamps in Brick red. This is one of our most popular designs and has almost become an icon of the brand. The parasol is also the perfect reading light from the collection, its extra height allows a wider spread of light, whilst the opaque shade stops glare in your eye. For bedrooms my tip would be to keep most of the lighting very simple, neutral and soft, even entirely hidden, apart from your bedside lighting which can provide a more playful statement. This rule means nothing is too overwhelming in the bedroom but it also isn’t boring.

We have a plethora of different lighting in our kitchen, but I started in the most obvious place with our kitchen island pendants. These are inevitably the focal point so worth building around. As I am a contrarian, I opted for two vintage carved marble pendants, off-centre to the island (allowing for our hob). I think I was fed up of seeing three perfectly centred lights over a kitchen island, in almost every kitchen reference I could get my hands on. I stand by this decision to buck the trend and feel two pendants is the only way to go.

I want a lamp to be decorative, whatever function I need it to perform. Whether that be an oversized or colourful statement lamp or a smaller, delicate object, I want my lamps to work hard as both a lighting source and an artwork. This is what we are trying to achieve at Palefire.

In most rooms at least three or four but I’d aim to get as many as possible in your most used rooms, without it looking like an airport terminal. In our living room we have seven, and it’s not very big.

I mainly use frosted, warm white LED bulbs as they are more diffused. I particularly like Tala’s Porcelain series and we recommend those in various sizes for Palefire lights.

Thousands of spotlights in the ceiling! You do not need that many, pick specific spots that require lighting and only put a spot there if you need them at all).

There are a few lights in our house which are on pretty permanently, especially in the winter, as our living room and kitchen are both quite dark. In a rogue move I made my brother drill some vintage wall lights to the base of our wall cupboards in the kitchen as task lighting, the one by the kettle is always on. The giant table tamps by the sofa are also often on, giving warmth to an east-facing space.

I’m not really a lampshade person. I think that’s why we don’t sell lampshades separately at Palefire. I prefer it when the whole light has been designed as one. Where I have had to choose them, I tend to go oversize for the base.

Ignore all the overhead lights and get as many plug-ins as possible – table lamps, floor lamps and even wall lights ­– include them in the kitchen and hallway. We have specifically made several of our wall lights available as plug-ins for this very reason, as they don’t require hardwiring.

Not relying on overhead lights and instead going for a down lighting lamp – whether table or floor lamp – makes for more atmosphere in a room.