Wabi Sabi Lighting

Wabi-sabi is the Japanese idea that things are more beautiful for being imperfect, unfinished and worn. In lighting it means fittings made from materials that show their own nature — concrete with its air pockets, travertine with its pitted grain, plaster that takes paint like a wall, ceramic where two pieces from the same kiln never quite match. Nothing here is trying to look machine-perfect. The finish is the point, and the light these pieces give is softer and warmer for it.

What Makes a Light Wabi-Sabi

Three things, usually together. Honest material — stone, concrete, clay, raw plaster, alabaster, woven rattan, linen — rather than a surface printed to look like one. Visible making — a hand-thrown lip on a ceramic wall light, the tool marks in an aged-stone lamp base, glaze that pools thicker at the foot. And quiet form — cylinders, domes, discs and half-moons with nothing added. A wabi-sabi fitting should look as good switched off in daylight as it does lit at night, because most of the day that is how you will see it.

It overlaps with Japandi lighting and the two are often shopped together, but they are not the same edit. Japandi is about restraint and balance and will happily include a ribbed-glass pendant on a brass stem. Wabi-sabi is narrower and more tactile: if you could not tell the material by touch with your eyes closed, it probably does not belong here.

Materials in This Collection

Concrete — the Ando pendants are cast in three shapes from 10cm to 22cm across, each one slightly different in tone because concrete is. They suit kitchens and dining tables in twos and threes. Stone and travertine — aged-stone table lamps with a hand-painted patina, and real travertine pendants and wall lights where the open pores of the stone catch the light. Stone-effect pieces are included where the surface is a genuine mineral render rather than a print. Alabaster — a translucent stone that glows from within when lit, so the shade itself becomes the light source; see the full alabaster range.

Plaster — paintable wall lights in raw white plaster that you finish in your own wall colour, so the fitting all but disappears into the wall until it is lit; most are up-and-down wall lights. Ceramic and terracotta — hand-finished wall lights in a range of glazes, and a fluted terracotta sconce made in Portugal. Rattan and linen — hand-woven shades and oatmeal linen drums that add softness and pattern; the woven pieces are also gathered in rattan pendant lights.

Getting the Light Right

Most of these materials are opaque or semi-opaque, so they throw light in a particular direction rather than filling a room evenly. A concrete or stone pendant sends most of its light straight down — ideal over a table or island, less useful as the only light in a living room. Plaster up-and-down wall lights wash the wall above and below and are best used in pairs or runs to build a soft, even glow. Alabaster and linen diffuse in every direction and are the pieces to choose if one fitting has to do most of the work.

Colour temperature matters more here than with glass or metal. Use 2700K warm white throughout — stone, clay and plaster all go grey and flat under a cooler lamp, and the whole point of the material is lost. A high colour-rendering bulb (CRI 90 or above) brings out the flecks in stone and the honey in rattan. Where a fitting takes a visible bulb, a warm filament LED is worth the small extra cost; where the bulb is hidden inside plaster or ceramic, a plain frosted LED is fine.

Where Wabi-Sabi Lighting Works

Bedrooms first: a pair of plaster or ceramic wall lights either side of the bed, painted to match the wall, gives a calm, hotel-like reading light with no clutter. Our guide to lighting a bedroom for calm covers heights and switching. Dining rooms and kitchens take the concrete and travertine pendants — hang the bottom of the shade 75 to 90cm above the table, and over a long table use two or three matched pieces rather than one. Hallways suit a single aged-stone or ceramic lamp on a console, where the texture can be seen up close.

These fittings sit naturally with limewash and clay paints, oak, linen and untreated timber, but they also work as the one soft element in a harder room: a concrete pendant over a marble island, or a plaster wall light against a dark painted wall. What they do not want is competition — a wabi-sabi fitting next to polished chrome or crystal makes both look wrong.

Living With Natural Materials

Expect variation. No two concrete or stone pieces are identical in tone, and hand-glazed ceramic carries small marks from the kiln; that is the finish, not a fault, and the product photographs show a representative piece rather than the exact one you will receive. Dust stone, plaster and concrete with a dry cloth or soft brush; never use wet cleaners on raw plaster or unsealed stone. Paintable plaster takes any standard emulsion — two thin coats, applied before the fitting is wired in. Concrete and stone pendants are heavier than they look, so check the stated weight and fix into a joist or a proper ceiling fixing rather than plasterboard alone. All hardwired fittings should be installed by a qualified electrician under Part P.

For the wider ranges these pieces come from, browse all pendant lights, wall lights and table lamps.