We may earn a commission if you buy — it never affects which retailer we rank first.
The straight empire lampshade is made from dupion silk, a fabric woven from two distinct threads that produces a natural iridescence shifting between greenish turquoise and deep blue depending on the angle of light. The weave includes characteristic slubs — slight thickening where threads twist together — which are inherent to the natural silk fibre and contribute to its organic texture. The dupion construction gives the shade a lustrous, richly coloured surface that changes subtly under different lighting conditions. The shade measures 40cm in diameter.
This shade is made from the grandaddy of silk - Dupion. And to think it all started out with a friendly little worm spinning its stuff. Now, pay attention, there are a couple of things you need to understand about this silk - first is that it’s ordinarily woven from two distinct threads - the warp and the weft (for the weaving nerds amongst you) - and so the colour often has a lovely iridescence. We call this colour Peacock, but in truth from one angle it’s a greenish turquoise hue and from another it’s a deeper rich blue colour. Beautiful really, but we tell you this because still photography cannot always catch the true lustre of Dupion silk. The next point about this silk is that there are some imperfections - known as slubs - where two threads of silk yarn are twisted together a little more thickly than usual. Slubs happen, and should be celebrated as a reminder that silk is a natural, organic and beautiful fibre...not grumbled about! We hope you love and live happily ever after with your glorious Dupion silk shade. And if you made it this far...
