Tapered Woven Pendant Shade in Black Stained Rattan

A tapered shade rather than a dome, which throws the light down rather than out and suits a kitchen island.

Every piece here is woven by hand, which is not a marketing line but a description of the only way it can be done. Rattan cannot be machine woven around a curve, so a chair back is somebody sitting with a former and a bundle of soaked cane for most of a day. The consequence is that no two pieces are identical, that the binding at the joints varies slightly, and that a weave that is perfectly regular is usually a sign of extruded plastic rather than good workmanship.

Specification

• Dimensions: see the product name for the diameter, depth is roughly two thirds of the width
• Seat or working height: not applicable
• Frame: steel ring at the top, bound in cane so no metal shows
• Weave: open lattice, which is what casts the pattern
• Finish: rattan stained through rather than painted on, so a scuff shows dark cane underneath instead of pale cane through black paint
• Load rating: not applicable, this is a shade
• Indoor or outdoor: Indoors, or a covered veranda or conservatory that stays dry. Natural rattan is not garden furniture and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a chair that will go grey, swell, split and unravel inside two seasons. If you want rattan outdoors you want woven polyethylene, which is a good product honestly described and something we do not sell.
• Assembly: fits a standard European lampholder ring, no tools
• Weight: approximately 1.6 kilograms
• Fitting: 40mm lampholder ring, the European standard
• Maximum lamp: 60W incandescent equivalent, and use an LED anyway
• Cord set: not included, and we sell one
• Casts a lattice pattern on the ceiling, which is the point
• Sold singly unless the name says otherwise

What you get

• One tapered woven pendant shade
• A lampholder ring adaptor
• A care card and a soft brush

Care

Dust it with a soft brush rather than a cloth, because a cloth skates over the weave and a brush gets into it. Two or three times a year wipe it over with a barely damp cloth and let it dry away from a radiator. Rattan does not like being dry any more than it likes being wet, so a piece that lives next to a radiator or in a room with the heating on all winter will benefit from a light mist of water once a month, which sounds like an old wives' tale and is the single most useful thing anyone will tell you about it. If a strand lifts, do not pull it. Damp it, press it back and hold it with masking tape overnight.

Where it works

The boho end of the range, which mostly means texture. A woven piece next to a plain one reads as considered and three woven pieces in a row read as a garden centre, so the rule we give people is one large woven piece per wall and as many small ones as you like. Works particularly well against a dark wall, where the light catches the weave and the piece stops disappearing.