Lampshades come in all shapes, sizes and varieties, with sometimes exotic names, sometimes finished in exotic materials. They can be plain ‘drum’ or ‘coolie’ or perhaps drip with embroidered beads. They can be strictly functional or match the designers’ wildest dreams (and possible the housekeepers worst nightmares…). Whatever it is then the workshops of A Shade Above in Portslade in England’s sunny south coast can produce them to your specification.Unknown to the many holiday makers in Brighton a hop skip and a jump along the sea front, Portslade is the industrial zone that edges Shoreham harbour and helps keep the economy of this area alive with manufacturing, an alternative to the tourist and education industries that otherwise dominate. The workshops and studio of A Shade Above are housed in an unromantic industrial building with their design offices and workrooms. Alongside is their own small photographic studio as well as the manufacturing and despatch areas. With sensitive development plans underway some areas were off limits for photography, but I was none-the-less fascinated by watching the skilled staff manufacturing their latest designer orders.
A family business, the company has been making lampshades for nearly 30 years and has built up a considerable repertoire of shapes and sizes alongside their manufacturing expertise. The company have supplied the grandest of British and European hotels including the Dorchester and Claridge’s in London as well as to projects such as The Royal Opera House, restaurants, clubs, pubs, luxury developments, superyachts and National Trust properties.
