Four future lighting design classics
Each and every one of our Tom Raffield products are handmade using sustainable, ecological and low-energy practices. With enduring design qualities, our range is crafted and built to stand the test of time. We hone in on a few of our design favourites to discover and review their durable, sustainable characteristics.
Skipper Lighting Range
Where pared back design meets our signature curves. The very first Tom Raffield Skipper Pendant was born in 2015, and since then it’s rapidly become our most popular and bestselling light. A truly tried and tested design, the Skipper Lighting Range has expanded to encompass three different sized ceiling pendants and a captivating floor light.
Supporting the ethos at our core, each Skipper Pendant is commissioned using sustainable ash, oak or walnut – which means we proudly support the maintenance of forest biodiversity, productivity, and ecological processing.
The Skipper range has also been designed to have enduring, long lasting quality. Every light is assembled using ‘dry construction’ a process our workshop team have championed. Practising dry construction means that no glue or harmful ‘nasties’ are a part of our designs; our lights are entirely au naturale.
Our lighting workshop produces very minimal waste when making the Skipper Lighting Range. Prior to assembly, during the preparation stages, each individual petal is cut to its exact required size ensuring that a consistent and precise aesthetic is always created. Any offcuts created during this controlled measuring process are reused when making other designs (such as the wall and ceiling lights that form our Scots Lighting Range).
No. 1 Lighting Range
Tom’s first ever design and arguably, our most iconic family of lights. The No.1 Lighting Range has certainly undergone an evolution of change since its inception. From the prototype ‘curly shade’ to the No.1 Giant XL and the now infamous No.1 Christmas Bauble: it’s been quite a journey.
The preparation involved in commissioning a No.1 involves steaming and drying the desired ash, oak or walnut wood. An incredibly low energy practice, steam bending is a very ecological method of manipulating wood into incredible shapes by using elementary water and heat. Steam bending our wood ensures low levels of waste are created and additionally, that no harmful adhesive is necessary when creating our eye-catching bends.
The No.1 family of lights have been built to last and stand the test of time. Each product is incredibly wood-dense and made using anywhere between 60 – 120 meters of wood (depending on its size). The internal spherical structure of a No.1, that every length of steamed wood is entwined around, gives stability and durability to the design. Each loop is dependent on another. If the design ever needs to be repaired, the damaged loop is simply taken away from the outer layers and a new loop intertwined to fill any visual gaps.
Hanter Lighting Range
Refreshing in its simplicity, surprising in its design, our Hanter Lighting Range turns heads. Originally only available in just the table light design, the Hanter has since been developed into a wall light that launched as part of our AW/17 collection.
Steam bent from solid FCS controlled oak, each product belonging to the Hanter range is made entirely from wood that originates from certified forests. By using sustainably sourced wood our business endorses the incredibly important work carried out by major environment charities such as WWF, Greenpeace and the Woodland Trust and ensures that a higher number of trees are planted in replacement of any wood taken from a forest.
The Hanter Lighting Range, like the Skipper and No.1, is made by practising a dry assembly method. No glue or harmful chemicals are used whilst making the lights and each Hanter is screwed together using only manpower and finished with an eco-friendly, natural matt varnish.
Stem Lighting Range
Good things come in threes. Honest. Bold. Considered. A branch of steam bent timber bows its head. From base to tip, the Stem design blends nature with elegance to put the lustre in illumination. Our Stem Lighting Range offers understated design at its best.
The wooden stem of every Wheal light we make uses either unseasoned or air-dried timber and is steam bent using traditional, low-tech methods. Each Stem light is completely handcrafted by a member of our workshop team from start to finish and due to it’s carefully considered quality, will last over a lifetime.
Furthermore, every light in our Wheal range can be purchased with or without a Tala lightbulb. Tala implement the latest energy-saving technology when creating their lightbulbs and champion materials and techniques that have a minimal impact on the environment. Tala’s business ethos is to strive for a transparent, carbon-neutral supply chain – an ethos which we whole-heartedly admire and support. Furthermore, Tala’s ‘Ten Trees’ programme has contributed to the planting of 9,000 trees within the UK alone and plans to plant a target of 35,000 trees by April 2018, a programme we are proud to support by supplying their bulbs with our Tom Raffield designs.
Posted: 04.02.18
Updated: 02.04.24