Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

You’ve considered the perfect table, the perfect shade of marble countertop, and your ideal couch to chair ratio, but it’s rare to consider the perfect pendant lamp. In this week’s Top Ten, we take a look at the bulbous, the spikey, the wire outlines, and even the tiki hut-inspired designs that will float your space’s boat from being ordinary to extraordinary. Because as most great designers would concur – your home is only as warm as its lighting.

1. Bambinolino Down

MANUFACTURER: Bruck Lighting
PRICE: $258
Dimensions: 4 3/4″L x 2″W with a 59″ cable

Dust off the entertainer deep within you and embrace the presence of a deep, glowing microphone pendant lamp we call the Bambinolino Down. With a spherical glass shade on one end and a uni-plug design on the other, Bruck Lighting hangs the colorful hanging lamp onto any lighting system or ceiling canopy with an adaptor using up to a 10W bulb in its G4 socket. Choose between the glow of amber, blue, red, or white glass that adds to the matte chrome finish, finish it off with the optional Kiss canopy if desired.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

2. Wohlert

DESIGNER: Vilhelm Wohlert
MANUFACTURER: Louis Poulsen Lighting, Inc.
PRICE: $826 – $1300
Dimensions: (pictured) 9.8″ Dia x 10.6″H with a 12′ white electrical cord

In large 10, 12, 14 or 16-inch diameters, the hand-blown opal glass pendant lamp by Vilhelm Wohlert for Louis Poulsen Lighting, Inc. is the ultimate ceiling centerpiece. It attractive glowing creates an invigorating, warm effect at the base of its 12 foot long white electrical cord. Recommended as a lamp used with the 200W, 120 Volt A23 incandescent bulb in hallways or other areas, the frosted diffusion from its circular dome perfectly softens a modern, minimalist-style space.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

3. Porter

MANUFACTURER: Pottery Barn
PRICE: $79- 129
Dimensions: Small – 9″ Dia x 8″H and Large – 16″ Dia x 9″H; 96″ cord

Easily lower or raise the Porter Pendant like as if you’re sent back a century as you work the night away in a Parisian workshop. Crafted in your choice of metal with a sleek nickel finish or in a lacquered ivory glaze on a ceramic shade, the lights come in your choice of two different sizes. If you opt for the smaller size it uses a 60W bulb, while the large Porter Pendant fits a 100W bulb. In either case, add a touch of history to your living or dining room with a classic design.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

4. Opium

MANUFACTURER: Shine Labs
PRICE: $350
Dimensions: 15″W x 21″ H with a 72″ adjustable cord.

From the Moire Collection of pendant lighting by Shine Labs is the Opium Pendant made from the intricate design of wires. Allowing light to flow out from the spaces between wires, the Opium is finished in a matte black with a black fabric shade. Although dark it may seem, the lamp’s six foot cord hangs a 120 volt, 75W lamp that creates the perfect ambiance in your home environment. It also comes with the option of using a fluorescent, 18W bulb and a GU-24 twist lock.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

5. PH 4/3

DESIGNER: Poul Henningsen
MANUFACTURER: Louis Poulsen Lighting, Inc.
PRICE: $500
Dimensions: 15.7″ Dia X 7.8″ H

Using a logarithmic spiral for downward illumination, the shades of the PH Pendants of each size correspond in a relationship of 3:2:1. The reason for this design came about because designer Poul Henningsen wanted to decrease the light shining with each added shade. This way, there is no glare and the light source diffuses with the modern fan of shades in a variety of different sizes in its white, wet painted finish.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

6. Modern Wood Slat

MANUFACTURER: The Designer Insider
PRICE: $739
Dimensions: 20″W x 20″L x 21″H with a 6′ chain

Pyramid-shaped and modern, this pendant is formed with wood slats for a warm, tiki hut appearance. The wood is stained in a medium tone, polished fruit wood finish containing a wrought iron interior and chain hook. Accompanied with a 60w maximum bulb, its the ideal pendant lamp for over a small dining table or countertop, and can be accompanied with its sister wood slat lamps for a varied effect.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

7. Milano Mini

MANUFACTURER: A19
PRICE: $243
Dimensions: 6″W X 6″H

Made in America, this proud ceramic mini pendant uses a playful Swiss cheese look on its Matador Red, Matte Black, or Glossy White glaze finishes. It comes user-friendly as a ready to hang pendant, including a 6′ adjustable cable, hang straight sleeve and socket set, among other necessary components. Ready to mount over its standard 4″ junction box with brushed satin nickel finished hardware, the Milano is comes in a low-voltage model that includes a 50W MR16 bulb and offers itself up as an abstract piece of conversation making a small, yet bold, statement.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

8. Terra

DESIGNER: Jeremy Pyles
MANUFACTURER: Niche Modern
PRICE: $995
Dimensions: 13″W x 11″H

Unlike the other single pendant lights, the Terra Pendant contains more than one bulb. (In fact, it requires four 25W bulbs for a total of 100W.) Said to be “symbolic of the elements: earth, water, wind and fire”, Pyles designed the glass pendant light with a dimmer to adjust the light as the day goes from sunlight to dusk. Knowing how to create a beautiful energy is half the battle – picking the perfect pendant to round out and enhance the space around it is the other.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

9. Powell Street

MANUFACTURER: Tech Lighting
PRICE: $456
Dimensions: 24″Dia x 12.4″H with a 6′ clear cable

Possibly named after the famous street in San Francisco – Powell Street – I can just picture this spun metal shade pendant hanging over a beautiful table with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Coated inside with white or sunrise orange, the satin nickel, black, or white exterior can be suspended by up to 6′ off of the ceiling, offering an industrial, modern addition to your space. It works with a 120 volt, 150W bulb and uses a standard incandescent dimmer to further enrich the feel of living on a charmed street in an enchanting city.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

10. Planes Frosted Aluminum

MANUFACTURER: Sonneman
PRICE: $790
Dimensions: 19″W x 19″H x 19″D

Resembling a sort of windmill, the Planes Frosted Aluminum 18-inch Pendant comes with three 12″ and one 6″ stem included. The aluminum panels measure 18″ high and 7″ wide, an the canopy is 5″ in diameter. Altogether, it comes together as a light fixture that appeals to the fantastical world of different angles entering our somewhat planar settings, hence the name. Like the Terra Pendant, the Planes Frosted Pendant uses more than one bulb, and reaches a total of six – 60W, G25 bulbs that create an allover brilliance with varied casting of shadows.
Top Ten: Single Pendant Lights

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