Industrial Lighting: How to Get the Industrial Look at Home

Industrial lighting at home means fittings in raw metal, concrete or timber, bulbs often left on show, and a warm light around 2,700 K. A workshop-style pendant anchors the room, a wall light with an arm or a spotlight lights the corners, and several light sources at different heights stop the room feeling like a warehouse.

The industrial look is built on hard materials: steel, cast iron, brick, concrete. Badly lit, they make a room feel cold. Well lit, they become warm and inviting. So everything depends on the choice of fittings and, above all, on the colour of the light. Our range includes 79 industrial pendant lights, 110 industrial chandeliers and 101 industrial wall lights: this guide helps you choose between those shapes, place them room by room and set the light so that the metal warms the space instead of chilling it.

What is industrial style lighting?

Industrial style comes from the loft. Loft apartments are generally built in former industrial buildings, and they were first popular with artists, who kept what they found there: brick walls, steel beams, concrete floors, big workshop windows. The look has since spread to converted mills, warehouse apartments and new homes that borrow its codes.

The lights in those buildings were working tools: workshop lamps with pressed steel shades, cage lights, floor-standing spotlights, wall lights with jointed arms. Their features are still the codes of industrial lighting today:

• Raw materials: matt black steel, aged metal, concrete, solid timber.
• Functional shapes: cone or dome shades, cages, tubes, adjustable arms.
• Visible workings: fabric cable, exposed ceiling cup, a bare or barely covered bulb.
• Sober colours: black, concrete grey, rust, with timber to warm the whole.

Which light fittings suit an industrial interior?

Four families of fittings cover almost every need in an industrial interior. The idea is not to put them everywhere, but to choose one strong piece per room and back it up with quieter sources.

The workshop pendant

It is the most recognisable piece: a metal cone or dome shade that throws the light downwards. Above a table or an island, it lights the surface without dazzle, because the bulb is hidden inside the shade. Models with several shades, such as our industrial steel pendant light with 3 shades, spread the light along the full length of a table. Our metal pendant lights follow the same idea in other finishes.

The arm or spider chandelier

In a large room or under a high ceiling, a single shade no longer fills the volume. An industrial chandelier with several arms, its bulbs on show at the ends of black metal rods, fills the space without closing it in. It gives a more diffuse light than a pendant, which suits a living room.

The wall light with an arm or an adjustable spot

A wall light is the ideal extra source: it lights a reading chair, a headboard or a brick wall with nothing standing on the floor. Models with an adjustable spotlight let you aim at one precise area. Choose an industrial wall light with a switch on the fitting if there is no wall switch at that spot.

The concrete pendant or ceiling light

Where height is short, in a hall, a landing or a bedroom with a low ceiling, a compact fitting in raw concrete takes over. Grey concrete, alone or paired with timber, brings the raw material of the style without a long drop into the passage. Our industrial concrete and natural wood pendant light shows how well the two materials soften each other.

Fitting	Type of light	Where to use it	Usual base on our models
Workshop pendant	Directed downwards	Table, island, worktop	E27
Arm or spider chandelier	Diffuse, bulbs on show	Living room, large room, high ceiling	E27 or E14
Wall light with adjustable spot	Targeted	Reading corner, headboard, feature wall	GU10
Concrete pendant or ceiling light	General	Hall, landing, low ceiling	E27 or GU10

Which light warms up metal and concrete?

This is the point that makes or breaks an industrial interior. Under a cold white light, black metal and grey concrete really do look like a warehouse. Under a warm light, the same materials take on golden reflections and the timber comes forward.

• Aim for 2,700 K. Colour temperature is measured in kelvin: the lower the figure, the yellower and softer the light. In living spaces, and especially in the evening, a warm white is the comfortable choice. The European Commission’s scientific committee on health risks, SCHEER, notes that all light affects the body clock and that evening exposure to light, including LED light, may have an effect on sleep patterns.
• Choose filament LED bulbs. They copy the look of the old carbon filament bulbs that suit fittings with a bare bulb so well, while using far less electricity. Amber or smoked glass softens the light further.
• Check the base and the maximum wattage. The page of each of our fittings gives the base (E27, E14, GU10) and the maximum wattage it accepts. For a bare bulb pendant, our bulb pendant lights are designed around exactly that choice.
• Put the main light on a dimmer. Full brightness for cooking or tidying, low light for dinner: that is what makes an industrial room pleasant to live in. Use dimmable LED bulbs with a dimmer switch designed for LED, and have any new switch fitted by a Registered Electrical Contractor.

A bare bulb dazzles if it hangs at eye level. Keep very exposed bulbs for high pendants and chandeliers, and keep closed shades for sources at eye height.

Where to put industrial lights, room by room

Kitchen and island

Above an island, line up two or three pendants with metal shades, or one pendant with several heads on a bar. They light the worktop where you chop and prepare. Add general light from the ceiling for the rest of the room. Our kitchen pendant lights include many workshop shapes.

Dining room

Centre the pendant on the table, not on the room. Set its height so that the light falls on the table top without blocking the view between the people sitting at it. A wall light on the nearby wall is then enough to set the mood at the end of the meal.

Living room

A living room needs several sources. A chandelier with arms or a large pendant for general light, a wall light with a spot near the sofa for reading, and one or two low lamps for the evening. It is the layering of these lights that makes a welcoming room.

Bedroom

Avoid the ceiling light on its own, too harsh at bedtime. A pair of wall lights with arms on either side of the bed replaces bedside lamps and frees the bedside tables. Choose models with a shade around the bulb, so it is not in your eyes once you lie down.

Hall and landing

In a passage, the fitting must not hang too low. A compact concrete ceiling light or a row of wall lights along the wall suits it better than a long pendant.

The mistakes that make an industrial interior feel cold

• Light that is too white. Beyond 4,000 K, metal turns clinical. Stay with warm white in living spaces.
• A single source on the ceiling. It flattens the room and leaves the corners in shadow. Add light at different heights.
• Everything in black. Black metal, black furniture, black fittings: the room darkens. Pale timber, linen, leather or a touch of brass balance it out.
• Fittings that are too small. In a loft-sized volume, a small pendant disappears. The higher the ceiling, the more generous the fitting should be, or the more of them you need.
• Bare bulbs at eye level. They dazzle. Keep them for high pendants.

Mixing industrial style with other styles

Pure industrial style, all metal and brick, sits awkwardly in an ordinary house. It works very well alongside other styles, though, and the light fittings are often where they meet.

• Industrial and timber: a pendant that pairs concrete with natural wood, or a black metal wall light on a wooden base, immediately softens the raw side.
• Industrial and Scandinavian: pale walls, blond timber and soft textiles, with one or two black metal fittings as graphic accents.
• Industrial and minimalist: simple shapes, few objects, and concrete or steel fittings with clean lines that act as sculpture.

Whatever the mix, keep a common thread: the same black finish or the same material, concrete or timber, from one fitting to the next. That is what holds the whole look together.

Industrial lighting: frequently asked questions

Sources

• SCHEER, Opinion on potential risks to human health of Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), 2018, and its easy-read summary: light and the circadian rhythm. European Commission
• Loft, encyclopaedia article on the origin of lofts and living in former industrial buildings. Wikipedia
• Safe Electric, Home Safety: always use a Registered Electrical Contractor for electrical works. Safe Electric