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Lampshade Fittings

Lampshades come with many different tyoes of fitting - some attach to the light bulb, some attached to the lamp holder with a screw fitting, some attach via a shade carrier with Duplex or Harp to an American style washer top. We can make lampshades with all of these different styles of fittings as long as we know the dimensions which does play an important part in getting the right fit for your lamp shades.

You would not believe just how many different lampshade frame fittings we have, let alone all of the different shapes, sizes and colours as well.

Lampshade Fittings

Do you need a lampshade with an unusual fitting?

Standard Lampshade fitting - there really isn’t such a thing as a “standard” lampshade fitting, this probably really means most commonly available in the shops, and even this has changed over the years. The B22 fitting is very much an old English / UK thing for a Bayonet light bulb (the one with the 2 pins that you push and twist into fit the holder), be that a cheap white plastic ceiling pendant fitting or a brass bulb holder on a table or floor lamp. This B22 bayonet fitting is being gradually squeezed out of the market by the more common Euro E27 screw fitting which is more commonly available to buy in high street shops like Ikea or online stores.

Easy fit lampshades are a marketing term more than an actual type of light fitting ( we see it used a lot in John Lewis, Marks & Spenser and Dunelm) . It refers to a E27 gimbal that is often on reversible arms, and can be fitted with a reducer ring to fit B22, meaning that it can be adapted for mutiple situations: makes it easy to stock and sell from a shop - easy fit that can be used on table and floor lamps as well as pendant fittings - the reversible gimbal is especially useful where a shade has a covering with a directional pattern meaning you can’t just turn it upside down.

Reversible Gimbal fitting :

American Washer Top fittings on a Harp are increasingly found here in the UK, as the name suggests they orginated as an American style of fitting - Lampshades used on harps of differing heights. As the Far East have manufactuered more lamps and lights using this fitting for the American markets this fitting has seeped into the UK market and very few lampshades are made to fit this type of lamp, they are often taller than the average lampshade as well, so if you are looking to change or update your lamp shades you may find it difficult to find a lampshade with this small M10 top fitting off the shelf. ( luckily for you we can make them bespoke for you)

Duplex Shade & Carrier - Duplex is a handy fitting as it offers a flexible solution to most situations. It’s not as discrete as other light shade fitting types, there are more struts to interfere with the light source, but that is a small price to pay to get a lampshade that fits well, especially if you are not sure on what size and height you want and if you are prone to swapping your lampshades around on different bases.

Shade carriers come in different heights, and you can get height adjustable shade carriers as well, which are super useful.

Candle Clip fitting

Golf Ball Clip fitting

GLS Clip fitting

C-Washer / Pacman fitting

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION - In addition to differentiating the fitting, the dimensions are also really important to tailor a lampshade to fit exactly. The lampshade has what we call a “drop” to the fitting and that is the dimension from either the top ( on a pendant light) or bottom (on a table or floor light) to where the gimbal is - it effectively ensures that the shade covers the bulb and bulb holder.