Pendant lamps are the new chandeliers. Add lighting without all the fuss with eco-friendly pendant lamps.

Pendant lamps are hanging lighting fixtures that are less fussy than chandeliers. While chandeliers often take over a room, pendant lamps are more a part of the whole look–rather than the main focus. And while you are making lighting changes, you might as well choose more sustainable options. Choose from fixtures that are made from recycled materials, more sustainable materials, and those designed to utilize more energy-efficient lighting fixtures.

8 Eco-friendly Lamps to Add to Your Space

1. LZF Link Pendant Lamp

The real wood veneers used in this gorgeous lamp are sourced from forests certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) making this contemporary lamp a colorful and sustainable choice for your room.

2. Koura Pendant

The David Trubridge Koura Pendant is named after the Maori word for fresh water shrimp native to the rivers of New Zealand. Made from sustainable bamboo, it’s shape is the same as the traps used to catch the Koura shrimp.

3. Bowler LED Pendant

Sleek and simple of line and form, this contemporary pendant lamp is designed for use with LED bulbs, making changing lightbulbs a thing of the past.

4. Fair Trade Copper Pendant Lamp

This lamp has a warm yet industrial feel. It is also handmade from recycled metal by the artisans at W.F.T.O. members Noah’s Ark, India.

5. Cork Pendant

6. Recycled Drum Pendant

Believe it or not, this drum-style pendant lamp is actually made from recycled cardboard with a durable dark steel frame and sandblasted tempered glass diffusers. It’s also treated with an environmentally-friendly fire retardant making it a sustainable and elegant choice.

7. Giselle Pendant Lamp

This super cool natural material lamp is made from wire that has been covered in abaca fibre.  Abaca is a species of banana that is native to the Philippines and is not only a sustainable material, but are sourced from a cooperative of farmers and weavers who are keeping an age-old tradition alive.

8. Live Plants Pendant Lamp

What’s better than a new lighting fixture? A new lighting fixture that also doubles as a planter. From Nui Studio, this smart designed plant light allows for both lighting and greenery even in windowless interiors.

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Chandeliers are one of the easiest ways to make a statement in your home. They are often the focal point of the room, can help inform the rest of your decor and are a fantastic place to start whenever decorating or redecorating any space. You can tell a lot about your style based on the chandeliers to which you are drawn.

Take a look at these 10 examples and see which ones speak to you. Some of you will love them all, but I bet most of you will have 2-3 styles that jump out at you. 

Eclectic Elegance

Image: Anthropologie

This lovely beaded and tagua nut chandelier from Anthropologie is a gorgeous example of eclectic elegance. Tagua nuts are indigenous to Ecuador and are a traditional interior design element there.

Luxe Drama

Image: Restoration Hardware

Make a big statement with this dramatic chandelier from Restoration Hardware. It’s a 19th century French reproduction in the Baroque style and is hand carved from solid wood.

Magical Enchantment

Image: Terrain

If you are inspired by nature, this magical chandelier from Terrain is probably your speed. Bring the forest into your home with antiqued gold design, which provides just the right balance of elegance and natural beauty.

Classic Americana

Image: Piper Classics

For a more classic look, this wood-turned chandelier from Piper Classics fits the bill. It’s handcrafted in Pennsylvania and embodies that simple, classic American style.

Exotic

Image: VivaTerra

And for something that is completely different, try this antique copper Moroccan hanging lamp from VivaTerra. Group several of them together for a gorgeous effect.

Vintage Farmhouse Chic

Image: Vintage Home Designs

Like things a little more homey? A wonderful example is this two-tier farmhouse chandelier from Vintage Home Designs. It’s a vintage style reproduction that’s made and worked to look weathered and worn for a rustic look.

Gothic

Image: World Market

This chandelier from World Market is the embodiment of modern gothic design. This is truly a statement piece.

Modern

Image: All+Modern

Lose the gothic, but keep the modern with this chandelier from All+Modern. Made from metal and glass, it embodies that uncluttered modern style.

Rustic Chic

Image: West Elm

Inspired by antique canning jars, this 3-Jar chandelier from West Elm is rustically charming and paired with a vintage-style light bulbs harkens back to simpler days.

Jazz Age Elegance

Image: Pottery Barn

Finally, for vintage drama try this beaded design from Pottery Barn. Daisy Buchanan herself might just have approved of this blown-glass bead beauty.

Main image Photo Credit: Celeste

Related on Ecosalon:

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Okay, the concept is slightly macabre, but so are these resurrected toys and fairy tales.

In consideration of the holiday season, let’s reflect on Christmas’ past: like that year you had to complete your Jem and the Holograms doll collection or you would just die. (She truly was outrageous.) Or that year mom got a black eye scoring you your first Cabbage Patch Kid. Where’s Rainbow Brite now, I wonder? We’re guessing at the bottom of some rainbow, or dumped in a New Jersey landfill like a bit character from The Sopranos.

By the power of Grey Skull, a designer has found a use for those discarded He-Mans and Thundercats. And an artist from Korea has given She-Ra The Princess of Power’s new Crystal Castle walls to defend, only this time it’s personal.

These welded stainless steel plate sculptures by So Hyun Woo pits the likes of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and this particular she-hero against the Armageddon (a Decepticon, we presume).

The above are from his Cruel Fairy Tales 3 collection.

Meanwhile, an outfit called Evil Robot Designs designs bespoke lamps out of action figures like Morpheus from The Matrix, Shrek and Donkey, plus a few Hot Wheels glazed in high gloss lacquer and topped with a shade:

Also from Evil Robot, a wicked white lamp featuring Star Wars leftovers and The Scarecrow from DC Comics.

Evil Robot pays further homage to Dreamworks and Toy Story in matte-gloss.

Should you find yourself home for the holidays, pay a visit to the basement and resurrect those old toys. The universe may not need Voltron anymore, but can you say the same about your living room?

The post Discarded Toys Live Happily Ever After (In Battle Formation) appeared first on EcoSalon.

Give your paperbacks a home away from the bookshelf.

This ingenious invention is like killing two mocking birds with one stone: it’s part reading light, part bookmark. Stick your current tome on top of it, and look! It’s a house. The Book Rest Lamp is made from recyclable frosted glass and uses an energy efficient bulb that will provide 8,000 hours of reading.

Available for about $80 from SUCK UK, who promises to ship it to you (converter included) in efficiently packaged containers made from recycled/recyclable paper.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Just because it’s cold outside doesn’t mean the sun has set on your Copacabana fantasies.

This shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine: you on a white-sand beach sprawled out on a cabana chair holding a strong, fruity, pink beverage in hand.

Keep that picture in mind, and cherish it. You’re going to need it to get through the long, cold winter ahead.

Thankfully, artist Heather Wells invented the Mai Tai lamp so you don’t have to suffer through winter on fantasy alone. She created this lampshade out of tiny cocktail umbrellas collected from friends and restaurants. The umbrellas are coated in a protective resin, the tips dipped into phosphorescent paint, in case you need an all night reminder of music and passion.

Available exclusively from UncommonGoods for $58.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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These Tunisia-inspired birdcages from Roost are an investment to save for – but a flea market find is something to sing about. 

Someday…

I would love to have this Tunisian-inspired birdcage lamp by Roost, available for purchase at Velocity.

The birdcage lamp, pictured here, is woven from buri–the center stalk of a palm frond–and features a light diffuser with a bird stenciled on it. They come is three shapes, but hark, they are an investment at $275 a pendant.

Today…

I can wire a found birdcage with a bulb to create a whimsical, hanging light fixture. Vintage birdcages can be found at flea markets and garage sales. If you don’t feel handy with electrical wires, just add candles to set the mood. This birdcage lamp was found on the Fabulous World of Design blog.

Someday/Today is a weekly column that inspires you to dream big for your home, and scale it to your lifestyle, always keeping sustainability of the planet – and your wallet – in mind.

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They’re frilly, flouncy, flirty – and you can wear them, too.

These handmade, upcycled hanging lamps are made from bare lamp shades, cotton belts and vintage crinoline petticoats. Cute for stringing up in the yard, under the evening sky as laundry is meant to be hung. Or try hanging them daintily in a dressing room, if you happen to have one of those.

Available for around $110 in white, black, and pink taffeta.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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Finally, a lamp for obsessive bottle cap collectors.

I’ve lusted after Lula Dot’s creations before, so it should come as no surprise that I’m crushing so majorly on the CAPtivate. Designer Lucy Norman took into consideration that only 5.5% of plastic bottles sold in the UK are recycled. Bottle caps, meanwhile, are generally not recycled at all because they are made from an altogether different plastic from the bottles themselves.

Lucy designed the CAPtivate to illuminate this waste, both figuratively and literally, by turning tossed out bottle caps into something a bit more ambient. Each light comes with 50 caps; to cover the light completely, however, it requires some reuse by you. Consider it an opportunity to channel your inner Edison – or your essential Tesla – while greening up a patch of landfill.

The CAPtivate retails internationally for £128.00, approximately $206 in the United States.

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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It’s official: I’m in love. No, not with a ruggedly handsome musician who also happens to compost in his backyard or a super-geek with a soft spot for design. I’m in love these fabulous and very pricey lamps. It’s not easy looking at dazzling décor pieces day after day, squelching the urge to whip out the credit card and charge up a storm, but somebody’s gotta do it. And a girl can still dream, right? Now that I’ve covered the sexy affordable lamps, here’s what our eyes – but maybe not our wallets – can handle.

1. Twisted Vine Floor Lamp ($1,275 – pictured above)
   Natural vines and a simple burlap shade give this floor lamp its fabulously modern appeal.
2. Metaform Conga Light ($700)
   This recycled light is handmade from FSC maple veneer for a natural look that evokes its namesake.



3. Celebrity Lamp ($1,600)
   Some of you may scoff at this lamp, but I like its sleek modern look. And nobody else I know owns a lamp made from 40 pairs of recycled aviator glasses!



4. Varaluz Aisen Collection Recycle Steel Floor Lamp ($854.91)
   Part sculpture, part light fixture, and thoroughly modern, this floor lamp makes quite the dramatic statement.



5. Spiral Floor Lamp ($2,630)
   With an alluring round shape perched on top of a tripod, this floor lamp is destined to become a conversation piece.

The post 5 Gorgeous (Forewarning: Ridiculously Expensive) Designer Lamps appeared first on EcoSalon.

1. Weathered Wood Floor Lamp ($249 – pictured above)
   Bring a bit of the outdoors in with this floor lamp made of hand-picked, sun-dried driftwood.
2. Recycled French Bottle Lamp ($429)
   Available in several different hues, this cool, curvy lamp adds warmth and an alluring shape to your space.
3. Infinity Energy Star Fluorescent Bamboo Accent Table Lamp ($298)
   Shoji glass and simple, Asian-inspired shapes give this accent lamp its stylish appeal.
4. Cancan Floor Lamp (listed for $330 on Neena’s Lighting)
   We love the sleek shapes and whimsical patterns of Light’s Up lamps. This one has a few different options for shades.
5. Ruby Lamp from Babette Holland Design (listed for $390 on multiple sites)
   Babette Holland’s lamps have a distinctively polished, yet organic quality that we love. She also also uses recycled materials as much as possible.

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