Shade glossary

Choose Your Style

Lampshades are classified by Shape, Material, Fitter, and Function. Since everything at Couture Shades is custom made, these classifications are just a jumping off point.

Shape

At Couture Shades, we offer a broad range of shapes from the four industry basics - drum, empire, bell and coolie, to more intricate models including, but not limited to square; rectangle; cut-corner; hexagon; gallery; star; oval or scalloped.

Material

Our lampshades can be crafted from fabric, paper or string. We offer pure silks, linens (never any blends), Parisian, Egyptian, and Swiss cotton string, and paper, or you can supply your own. Our fabric shades are lined and interlined with polyester to withstands heat better than silk and are reinforced by metal frames to give them structure.

Most of our hardback paper shades can hold their shape without support. They can be made from fabric laminated to a high-quality styrene; with hand-painted exteriors and/or interiors; colors from your specified paint chip; in woven, and “plain” translucent hand-tinted papers. We also offer reflective liners in gold or silver to maximize light output for darker shades.

Lampshade Fitters

A "fitter" is how the lampshade connects to the lamp base. The most common lampshade fitter we offer is a spider fitter. Spider fitters are set on top of a lamp harp and secured with a finial. Other fitters include clip-on (for either Edison or candelabra based bulbs), and uno offered in a polished brass or nickel finish. Also we can suggest euro rings, reflector rings, and wall mounts (eye-hooks or bars), in a raw metal finish only.

Trim

Our Couture Shades are completely customizable: we can suggest a host of cords, soutaches, and piping tapes. Our string shades are available in a rainbow of colors, and we offer couture techniques such as ruffles, pleats, ruching, and braids.