Alabaster Wall Lights

An alabaster wall light does not merely carry the light: it becomes the light. This translucent stone, worked into thin plates, glows from within and spreads a milky halo that cannot be reproduced in glass. The collection brings together 52 models, from the quietest to the most sculptural, most of them on a brass-finished mount.

Alabaster, the stone that lights up

Few materials share that property. Cut into sheets a few millimetres thick, alabaster lets the light through while keeping its clouded veining, so that a lit alabaster wall light shows a drawing quite different from the one you see in daylight. The light it gives is warm, with no visible hot spot and no glare, which makes it a sound choice above a bed or in a hallway you walk through at night. Switched off, the stone keeps a milky look somewhere between marble and porcelain, at home in pale interiors and equally good in darker rooms, where it cuts through.

The brass and stone finishes of our alabaster wall lights

Three mounts dominate this selection of alabaster wall lights. The gold brass finish, the most common of the three, underlines the warmth of the stone and builds a classic, almost hotel-like palette; brass is the best-structured material route on the British market, and it carries this collection as much as the stone does. Matt black does the opposite: it isolates the lit plate and makes it read as a floating block, a more contemporary position. White, finally, makes the mount disappear in favour of the stone alone. Shapes run from the plain disc to the cylinder, by way of vertical models that visually lengthen a low wall. Several references set the alabaster on a slim metal structure, so as never to weigh the stone down.

Where to fit an alabaster wall light

The bedroom is the most obvious use. An alabaster wall light fitted either side of the bed gives exactly the light you want in the evening: present enough to read by, soft enough not to wake anyone. The entrance hall and the landing come next, where translucent stone makes warm points of light without resorting to a ceiling fitting. In a lounge, alabaster works better in pairs or in a run, above a sofa or on each side of a chimney breast. For a bathroom, check the bathroom zone rating on the product page, since not every reference carries one.

Choosing well among our alabaster wall lights

Two criteria count more than the rest. The thickness of the stone first, which sets the translucency: the thinner the plate, the more light passes and the more the veining shows. Our pages state how each piece renders. The light source second, because alabaster copes badly with bulbs that are too powerful and flatten its drawing: most of our models carry an LED calibrated around 3000 K, or take a low-wattage G9 capsule. An alabaster wall light that is dimmable will let you fine-tune that intensity, which is particularly welcome in a bedroom.

Every page sets out the dimensions, the mount finish and the light source. If the translucency appeals but you would rather have a less precious material, our opal glass wall lights give a comparable diffusion.