Above: A 1950s handblown opaline glass & bakelite teardrop pendant

This year at skinflint, we’re marking ten years of salvaging and restoring original vintage lighting with our AW19 collection of Iconic Designs. Over the years, we’ve rescued thousands of lights which may have been lost forever, but our Iconic Designs are just that - classic and versatile pieces, fully restored by our team to ensure their heritage and enduring appeal lives on.

The ten lights in the collection, each come with their own unique history and story, showcasing the breadth of our reclaimed finds over the past decade, and the varied places across the globe from which we salvage.

Our XL classic enamelled pendant alongside another mid-century design classic - the Hillestak Chair by Robin Day.

Making an impact when suspended in a row, our opaline pieces are famed for casting their subdued and subtle milky glow when illuminated. This hand-blown teardrop pendant subtly draws the eye down, and works well to illuminate focal points such as bars, counters, and kitchen islands. Another opaline in the collection, affectionately known in the studio as the ‘orange segment’ light, is our decorative opaline Czech pendant - with its detailed underside it’s definitely one to be viewed from below. More decorative but also a classic are our retro cross-cut diamond pendants, looking great from above and below with their elegant detailing they make a perfect hallway light in the home.

Representing the industrial Eastern Bloc. Clockwise from top left: XL Eastern Bloc aluminium caged lights; Factory shades in-situ in a Georgian kitchen in Bath (Credit: Paul Massey for House & Garden); Oxidised and prismatic glass pendants.

At the industrial end of our Iconic Designs, these examples of oxidised, caged and enamelled shades all once illuminated the machinery of factories in the Eastern Bloc. Although, as this Georgian kitchen designed by Harding and Read demonstrates, with a bit of imagination industrial lighting can also be incorporated effectively into a more feminine and traditional scheme.

Finally, you’ll find pieces from renowned British lighting brands of the early 20th Century, famed for their contribution to lighting design. Salvaged from the decommissioned Rolls-Royce factory in Derby, UK, these former fluorescent lights by Thorlux have now been converted to accept efficient LED fittings. The vented shade allows for uplighting which creates a distinctive feature.

Other examples include explosion proof British pendants manufactured by Heyes which were once installed in the magazines at a mine in Fife, Scotland, plus pendants salvaged from the School of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham. Originally made by British manufacturer Holophane, the ribbed glass refractor is a true vintage icon, and as Holophane is still in existence, their prismatic glass continues to be used by the lighting industry today. A true design classic.

Shop our Iconic Designs.