Naturally Unique Veining

No two pieces of stone are ever the same

Alabaster is a natural stone, so every piece carries its own veining and subtle variation in color. The fixture you receive may therefore differ slightly from the images shown.

Good to Know

Nothing Spans Between the Rods

The bar every linear light hides — this one simply doesn't have.

Look closely at almost any long dining light and you will find the same thing: a metal bar running its full length, carrying the wiring and the weight, with a shade hung underneath to hide it. The shade is doing two jobs at once — softening the light, and concealing the structure that holds it up. It has to be deep enough to swallow the bar, which is why so many linear fixtures are bulkier than the light they give.

Two slim rods drop from two separate points on the ceiling, and between them there is only air. Each rod carries its share of the load and its share of the wiring, and because nothing has to be concealed, the stone could be made shallow — a trough rather than a box, flat along the bottom with the sides just rising and the ends turning up.

Shallow is what makes the light behave. A deep shade collects light and lets it out at one opening; a shallow trough spreads it along the whole length of the stone. So what arrives on the table is not two or three bright pools with dim gaps between them, but one continuous band of warmth — the reason a long table under a linear light either works completely or does not work at all.

The two metal bands are the last decision, and the least obvious. Without them the trough would read as one blank strip of glowing stone, and the eye would slide off it. Crossing it at even intervals divides the length into three, giving the proportion something to be measured against — the same reason a long table looks better with three place settings than with an unbroken run of cloth. In brass the bands melt into the warmth and the piece reads as one object; in black they become hard graphic lines against pale stone.

Not directly — and this is the most important thing to know before ordering.

It hangs from two slim rods fixed at two separate points on your ceiling, not one canopy. That means two holes, two fixings, and wiring run between them.

The fixture is 39.4″ long, and the rule for a linear light is half to two-thirds of the table's length.

So it suits a table of roughly 60–79″. Under 55″ it will overhang both ends and start to look like a beam across the room. Over 90″ it will light the middle and leave the ends dim — for a table that long, two fixtures end to end is the usual answer, and we're happy to advise on the gap between them.

One thing it is not for: a round table. A linear light over a circle leaves two arcs unlit and two ends of the stone doing nothing.

The whole length. The stone glows continuously rather than sending light down from a few visible sources.

That is the difference between this and a row of pendants. What lands on the table is one continuous band of warmth instead of two or three bright pools with dim gaps between them — which matters most at the ends of a long table, where a row of pendants usually runs out of light.

Yes, but it has to be specified when you order. (Please contact us if you require a dimmable version.)

To break the length up. Without them the trough would read as one blank strip of glowing stone and the eye would slide straight off it. Crossing it at even intervals divides the length into three, so the proportion has something to be measured against.

They also change the character of the piece. In brass the bands blend into the warm stone and it reads as one object; in black they become sharp graphic lines against pale alabaster.

Because it is quarried, not moulded. The veining running the length of your trough will be its own — and lit from inside, on a piece this long, it is the first thing anyone notices.

Sections may also differ slightly in tone from one another. That is real stone doing what real stone does; a piece that matched the photograph exactly would have to be resin.

A soft dry cloth along the stone. Keep water off it — alabaster is porous, absorbs it, and leaves a mark that won't buff out. The trough is open at the top, so dust settles inside it; a dry brush reaches in more easily than a cloth.

The metal bands and rods can take a barely damp cloth followed by a dry one. Switch off and let it cool first. Once or twice a year is plenty.

The Complete Installation Guide

Not sure how to wire it, how high to hang it, or whether you need an electrician? Our full guide walks through every step for US homes.

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