Crystal Pendant Lights

A crystal pendant light hangs on a rod or a cable and carries cut crystal or acrylic drops. It gives you the sparkle of a chandelier from a single point, which is what you want over a table, an island or a bedside where a full chandelier would be too much.

What type of crystal and acrylic pendants are available?

Our range covers waterfall and cascade designs, globe pendants wrapped in crystal, tiered frames and simple single drops. Most are crystal on a chrome or antique brass frame, with a smaller acrylic selection and a few in gold and polished nickel.

Fittings run from a single light up to twenty light clusters, so the same style works over a bedside table or down a stairwell.

Pendant or chandelier?

The difference is where the light comes from. A pendant hangs from one point and throws its light down, so it picks out what is underneath it. A chandelier spreads its lamps on arms and lights the whole room.

Use a crystal pendant over a dining table, a kitchen island, a hall table or beside a bed. Use a crystal chandelier when the fitting is meant to light and dress the whole room.

Hanging over a table, the bottom of the pendant should sit roughly 75 to 90cm above the table top. Over an island, allow the same and space multiple pendants evenly rather than clustering them.

Crystal or acrylic?

Crystal is cut glass. It has weight, it breaks light into colour, and it is what you want anywhere the fitting will be seen close up. Acrylic drops are moulded, cost less and weigh a fraction of the equivalent in glass, which matters on a long drop or an older ceiling rose.

Most of our pendants are crystal. If the fitting is going somewhere high where nobody will inspect it, acrylic on a good frame is the sensible buy.

Finishes

Chrome and polished nickel are the usual pairing with clear crystal: the frame disappears and the drops do the work. Antique brass is the warmer choice and suits older houses and painted walls. Gold and champagne read as more formal and sit better against darker colours.

Bulbs and cleaning

Most of these fittings take E14 candle lamps. Buy your E14 LED bulbs all at once and in the same colour temperature, because on a multi-light pendant a mismatch between warm and cool white is immediately obvious.

Clean the crystal once a year with a dedicated crystal glass cleaner rather than a household spray, which leaves a film on the facets. Spray onto a cloth rather than onto the fitting, and never clean a lamp that is still warm.

Related categories

• Pendant lights – the full pendant range, over a thousand fittings in every style.
• Crystal chandeliers – multi-arm fittings for a dining room, hall or stairwell.
• Crystal wall lights – to match either side of a mirror or fireplace.
• Crystal and acrylic lights – the whole crystal range in one place.
• Kitchen and island lighting – pendants sized and spaced for over an island or a breakfast bar.
• Dining room lighting – fittings hung for over a table.