A popular choice for lampshades due to its hard-wearing, functional and elegant style credentials, silk is a fashionable lampshade fabric. Easy to clean and with a luxurious finish, silk is woven into a wide variety of fabric types: pongee, satin, and rayon - to name just a few. In this blog, we explain more about each of these different silks to help you understand their material composition, and how each variant of silk lampshade will create a different lighting effect in your home. Whether you’re looking for silk lampshades for table lamps or ceiling lights, we offer a full collection of both real and synthetic silk lampshades.
Read on to learn more about the various types of silk fabrics that we use in our lampshade collections, in both real silk and synthetic silk.
100% Real Silk Lampshades
We source a variety of blends of real silk fabrics – pongee, and shantung. Each silk has its own unique and properties, creating refined and luxurious lampshades. Natural silk can usually be distinguished from faux silk by its natural variations, whether in the weave or ‘slub’ of silk, or small textural blemishes. Natural silk is created from tiny silkworms, extracted from cocoons then spun into fibers, and woven or loomed into pieces of fabric. Sourcing silk this way is a lengthier process, and often results in a more expensive price tag, making 100% real silk a sought-after material.
Pongee Real Silk Lampshades
We love Pongee silk for its lightweight properties and precise nature of the weave, meaning that it often has no noticeable ‘slubs’ (uneven horizontal ridges in the material which add to the character of the silk). Traditionally from China and popularly used in lampshades, pongee silk is an oriental-inspired and distinctive fabric for any lampshade shape. The pongee silk we source for our silk lampshades is 100% real silk.
Check our Pongee silk collection here
Shantung Real Silk Lampshades
Shantung silk possesses a polished finish, with a high sheen. Classically used in lampshades, this silk fabric is a common choice for lampshades thanks to its refined and elegant finish. This semi-satin fabric is also easy to dye in a multitude of different colors, making it versatile and able to match any decorative theme.
Check our Shantung Collection here
Synthetic Silk Lampshades
Synthetic silk boasts durability and robustness and is particularly familiar in interiors and lampshade design due to its hard-wearing and lasting credentials. Created from fibers such as polyester, and rayon or viscose, faux silk alternatives are often hardier than real silk and can be dyed and woven into a broader range of finishes.
Rayon Silk Lampshades
Rayon is a blend of faux silk fibers, often paired with polyester or acetate to increase the softness or firmness and overall fabric luster. We source a high-quality synthetic version of rayon silk called Anna Rayon which is similar to Pongee but created from synthetic threads, which adds to the practicality and durability of our lampshades.
Check our Anna Rayon Faux Silk Collection here
Supreme Satin Silk Lampshades
Our variant of supreme satin features a unique, stretchy quality, which allows us to mold this luxe fabric around a variety of shade shapes. Satin as a variant of silk is a luxurious material which creates a glossy finish, and our flexible supreme satin provides a durable and bright look to all of our lampshades.
Check our Supreme Satin Faux Silk Collection here
You can find variations of all of these types of both real and artificial fabrics in our silk lampshade collections. Click the links to discover our full selection of both 100% real silk lampshades, and synthetic silk lampshades.
Many of our real silk lampshades will also come with a soft-backed lining, allowing light to naturally emit a warm glow through your lampshade frame when turned on. Explore more of our soft lined lampshades here.
