Alice and the Art of lighting
Forget mass-produced lighting! In this interview, Alice Moylan, the designer, creative director and founder of Beauvamp, takes us behind the scenes of her handcrafted lampshade business. We’ll discover how her love for vintage furniture sparked a passion for lighting, and how Beauvamp’s unique shades, made with traditional techniques and sustainable materials, bring personality and history to any room.
Pictures Will Slater
Hi Alice, how are you?
We would love to hear about yourself! Where are you from, where are you based and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Alice, designer and Founder at Beauvamp and I work with my small team making handcrafted fabric lampshades. We are based in the beautiful market town of Wirksworth in Derbyshire, also known as ‘The gem of the Peak’ and feel very lucky to be based in such a vibrant and creative community.
We read you originally worked with furniture. Could you tell us more about it?
Yes I did, Beauvamp actually started out as a decorative furniture brand, I used to source good quality vintage furniture from onsite auctions and second hand shops and upcycle them with paints and decoupage or a bit of free hand pattern painting. I would work on a whole host of pieces from drawers and chairs to tables and cocktail cabinets. A lot of this work took place outside in my workshop, so when my first child came along, it wasn’t really a suitable place to be working with a youngster and so gravitated to projects that could be done indoors. I found that lampstands and lampshades were the perfect alternative and my new venture in lighting was born from there.
Picture Chris Webb
How did you ended up working with lampshades?
After sourcing a few vintage frames from charity shops I realised I needed to find out how to make handstitched lampshades from scratch and slowly began to research these techniques. After many months of searching and reading, I began to experiment with fabrics and stitching techniques until I decided I wanted to develop a range that I could call my own and that I would be able to make to order.
How did Beauvamp come to life?
After spending a long time researching and perfecting traditional sewing techniques, I immersed myself into the world of lighting and interiors from bygone eras, taking huge inspiration from my findings. I fell in love with the Arts and Crafts, Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods in particular and wanted to build on frame shapes from these eras and bring them into the present with a contemporary twist of my own.
My first collection of shades took inspiration from the old Tiffany glass lampshades originally designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in the late 1890’s. I loved their angular shapes and coupled with a fascination for silk ruching, I had to go with the name ‘Tiffany’ for my first collection. Further lampshade designs snowballed from there really and we became known for our pleats and deep fringing. Since then we have mastered the art of the ruffle and have recently launched the Tiffany Ruffle and Ruffle Dome!
Pictures Emma Croman
Could you tell us about the traditional techniques you use?
We are proud to say that all our lampshades are designed from scratch, starting with the frame shape which I sketch out on paper first. Each sketch will have carefully considered calculations for size and style before submitting for production. Once the frames are ready, each one is webbed in cotton ready for the fabric to be cut, chalked and machine sewn which in turn is then ready for hand stitching to the frame. A large proportion of our fabrics are then hand pleated around the top of the frame, which has now become one of our signature techniques. Each shade is then finished with a selection of responsibly sourced braids, fringes or our hand sewn ruffles.
Where do the fabrics come from?
I love working with James Hare silk dupions and have recently been working with some of their linens and sustainable matka silks. I’m also experimenting with some new bamboo silks and washed linens to keep the sustainable ethos moving forward, plus we are just about to start working with Chelsea Textiles checks and stripes!
Pictures Sam Reed & Will Slater
How would you describe Beauvamp in 3 words/adjectives?
Contemporary Fabric Lighting / OR unique, sustainable, forwardthinking.
Your lampshades add so much personality to a room. What was your initial goal in creating them?
To do just that! I wanted to make lampshades that had something different about them, something eye-catching and unique, to create a statement that will bring an element of surprise to a room.
Pictures Sam Reed
Where do you get your inspiration from?
I’m inspired a lot by heritage and history and I’m a huge fan of the Arts & Crafts movement, I enjoy looking back at lighting designs from the past and then designing my own interpretations with new colours, fabrics and trimmings to create something new for the interiors of today. I’m also inspired by nature and colours and have just started on a new collection inspired by wild flower meadows I visited on a recent holiday to France.
Any news that you would like to share with us?
We love collaborating with others and have a few very interesting projects in the pipeline that will feature some handpainted decorative motifs and also some beautiful ombré peace silks, hand dipped with natural dyes from the garden.
We do our best to work with as many local businesses as possible and have really enjoyed commissioning a range of multi tonal linen fringes made especially for us on local looms here in Derbyshire.
I’m also working with a lighting design company who have helped me produce an art nouveau inspired brass lampstand which I’m very much looking forward to launching later this year plus we have a new bolster cushion collection in the pipeline too!
Pictures Hana Snow
Alice Moylan, Designer & Creative Director of BeauVamp
www.beauvamp.com - @beauvamp