Bespoke Lampshade Masterclass & Q&A with;
A Shade Above
We were delighted to have A Shade Above join us in the Chase Erwin showroom to present a Bespoke Lampshade Masterclass during FOCUS/24. Managing Director, Fiona Blake led the discussion, sharing with us the history of the company, and an overview of the hand crafted work her highly skilled team produce.
Whilst guests enjoyed delicious nibbles and a glass of champagne, Fiona shared with us the steps that go into creating a shade by hand, with tools, frames, backing paper and fabric on display for guests to handle. During the talk, A Shade Above team members Ali and Alison demonstrated the intricacies of the different stitching and pleating techniques they use, showing the huge variety of effects possible.
On hand were a selection of Chase Erwin fabrics with different weights, textures, patterns and transparencies, and guests heard how they would go about selecting the right fabric for each project. It was a wonderfully informative masterclass enjoyed by all, and demonstrated the importance of lighting within a scheme, and the huge possibilities available when working with experts like the team at A Shade Above.
Q&A
Fiona, it has been fantastic to collaborate with you on our lighting for our Swing photoshoot and showroom displays. Your team created exquisite shades by hand, taking into account the individual fabrics used and the Art Deco theme of our collection. Can you share with us the story behind the company, and the amazing bespoke work that you do?
It’s been a wonderful collaboration with the Art Deco theme, the beautiful fabrics and colourways – and working with the Chase Erwin team! Bespoke work has always been at the heart of A Shade Above. My mother realised, almost forty years ago in her back room, that there was a demand for handmade shades made uniquely for table lamps. As she grew the business, customers became more and more open to new ideas, fabrics, pleat types and shapes. Designers started working with A Shade Above to make specific lighting designs and develop unique pieces, both in hotels (for example where fifteen box-pleated triple drum statement pendants were made for Claridge’s’ Gordon Ramsey restaurant) and in residences (where colour, fabrics and shape were experimented with for great effect).
Your team is made up of hugely talented people with varied skills such as tailoring, book binding, hat making and leatherwork. Why is it important to continue to make products by hand, and can you share some of the special techniques and finished you can achieve?
It’s difficult for me to imagine lampshades made by machine! Bulk numbers of shades are hard to transport so the styles, shapes and sizes are limited. One of our handmade lampshades stands heads above a machine-made equivalent – we measure out the pleats, hand sew and hand fit each element and consider every single detail. Being handmade means that the finish is far superior – you can just tell! Working by hand enables collaboration, creation of new things, the ability to use materials that you couldn’t on a machine, attention to detail, high-end finish – it’s a long process that requires a lot of skill.
“Our handmade lampshades stands heads above a
machine-made equivalent – we measure out the pleats,
hand sew and hand fit each element and consider
every single detail.”
You created two stunning pendant designs for us which epitomise the Art Deco era, can you share the process behind designing a shade to a clients brief and are there any constraints designers should be aware of in terms of fabrics?
In this case we started with form and worked with some pendant shape ideas that we had in mind. In bringing in the fabric options and colour we honed down on the design. Sometimes a collaboration might start with a fabric or an idea. Very often we are sent an image either from a designer’s imagination or from vintage archives, and the fun bit is the experimenting with fabric, technique and shape to create it!
There are some fabrics that are reliably great for making lampshades – you generally can’t go wrong with a linen or a doupion silk – but there are so many fabric types out there especially as new sustainable fabrics are becoming more prominent. Try seeing how the fabric behaves when you gather it into your hands (to give a good idea whether a pleat will be crisp or chunky. Or for smooth backed shades keep a few A Shade Above backing samples in your toolkit to test the fabric for yourself!
Do you have a favourite Chase Erwin collection, and which of our fabrics do you most enjoy working with?
We have in the past worked with lots of beautiful Chase Erwin fabrics, and in general they are stunning on a variety of styles of lampshade. Of course the effect of the fabric on the light is key. That is why I absolutely adore Swing, the sense of movement and the interplay of the light is just stunning. I can’t wait to create more with it!
“I absolutely adore Swing, the sense of movement
and the interplay of the light is just stunning.”
With such a wonderful array of shades available, which do you most enjoy creating and why?
I most enjoy putting together pieces that are shapely and architectural in that they make a real impact on the space and the through-flow of light. That might be a statement lamp or a central pendant piece. Throw in a stunning piece of fabric or a beautiful technical ‘show-off’ pleat and I am most proud!
Thank you for your time, we hope everyone takes the chance to visit our showroom to see your stunning creations displayed in our windows alongside our new collection Swing and our wonderful cushions collaboration with Andrea Benedettini.