The loupe light

A large and serene, hand-blown glass and brass wall light.

I first saw the inspiration for our loupe light in a photograph, sent to me by a young dealer who’d just bought an interesting pair of lights he suspected I might like. I’d never seen anything like them before, but they were amazing – large, with domed glass shades, held in a simple, classical frame. They were one-offs – fashioned from brass showing clear signs of a previous life, so maybe unique, and therefore very interesting.

Following closely in the footsteps of the maker, we found one reason we might not have seen lights like this before – they were extremely difficult to make. The tolerance between the arcing, angled brass of the frame and the blown glass shade had to be millimetre perfect – too loose, and the shade could slip out; too tight, and the shade could break. Our spinners and blowers made light after light until getting it right became second nature. Thus is the nature of craft.

As with all challenging things, it was worth the effort. The lights don’t feel 'safe'; they feel exciting - taken to the edge by a maverick maker and some duly inspired craftspeople.

Both our spun brass and blown glass are made by specialist workshops in England, after which we trim, tidy, finish and assemble in our Stamford workshop.