Industrial Lighting
BARE NECESSITIES – EXPOSED BULB LIGHT FITTINGS
It cannot be denied that the humble light bulb is one of the modern conveniences that has changed the way we live. At the simple flick of a switch we can have instant, trouble-free illumination. I’m sure there are few among us who would care to return to using smelly, dirty animal fat candles, oil lamps or gas lighting. It has been the practice for many years to cover naked light bulbs with shades and in fact many people really did not like seeing the bulbs at all. Exposed light bulbs were only seen in industrial factories and warehouses and certainly not in home interiors. All this has now changed as we are seeing exposed light bulb fittings being used not only for hospitality lighting but for lighting in the home too.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN LIGHTING
A quiet revolution has been going on in the world of lighting with the rise in popularity of industrial style light fittings.Until recently, if you asked most people about ‘industrial style’ they would probably have imagined dirty factories full of noisy, heavy machinery. This impression is not as far removed from the truth as you may think because it lies at the heart of what industrial interior design is all about. Large 19th and early 20th century industrial factories made no attempt to conceal their infra-structure and metal beams, pipes and exposed brick walls were all on show. Lighting would usually have consisted of large robust metal pendants, often with protective cages, that were hung on heavy metal chains from overhead beams.