Alnwick Travertine Drum Wall Light

A tall walnut backplate standing vertically on the wall, with a shallow travertine drum pushed through it about two thirds of the way up. The stone reads as a band crossing the wood rather than as a shade attached to it.

Because the drum is only 4 cm deep and open top and bottom, the light leaves in two thin sheets that run up and down the wood behind it. You end up looking at a lit strip of walnut with a stone bar across it, which is a very different object from a lamp on a bracket.

Where it earns its place

• Hallways. The vertical proportion suits the tall narrow walls between doors in a Victorian terrace.
• Staircase walls. Reads well from below and from above, and the wood catches light from both directions.
• Either side of a bed. Slim enough not to crowd a headboard, tall enough to hold its own against one.
• Where you want to see the wood. This is the fitting in the range where the walnut is the larger surface, not the trim.

Real stone, so no two are the same

Only 4 cm of stone is on show, which means you are looking at a narrow horizontal slice of the block. That slice can be almost uniform or can carry a band straight across the middle, and there is no way to choose. The walnut behind it has its own grain and varies too.

Fitting it

Hard wired, and a job for a qualified electrician. The backplate is 23 cm tall, so mark the top and bottom before drilling rather than working from the centre. In a hallway, put the stone band at around 1.5 m off the floor, which leaves the wood running above and below it at eye level. For a pair, align the stone bands rather than the plates.