Polygonal Bone China Pendant Lamp

Porcelain in general and the even more translucent bone china, that complex mixture of kaolin, feldspar, silica sand and more than 50% bone ash developed in the 18th century in England, is used especially for ornament purposes. The ornament can be controlled by varying the thickness of the material or by altering the refraction by folding. These are characteristics Peter Bowles can use. In addition to the immediately visible, substantive design of the bone china objects a second gestalt effect emerges when the source of light in the lampshade is turned on. In contrast to the cream coloured shape in the unlit state, the lampshade becomes a rich yellow with clearly identifiable outlines when the lamp is lit.

For this series, BTC developed forms which bear a resemblance to polished gemstones. Those are exactly the forms the potters have in mind here with classic cuts ranging from the "old mine cut" to the "modern brilliant". The resulting series of lamps has been named Hatton in reference to Hatton Garden, the location for London's jewellers and the centre of the British diamond trade.

Lamps made by BTC (= British Timeless Classics), in the vicinity of Oxford, have attained the status of timeless classics. The creative spirit and driving force behind the firm is Peter Bowles, who pursues his very clear idea and just as clearly realises his agenda. The process starts with the manufacture: Bowles wants to produce lamps that are British down to the level of detail. For example, the bone china-lamp shades come from a pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, known as the "the Potteries" because of the almost 500 potteries that used to be located there. Almost all are gone today and the firm, which also belongs to Bowles, would not exist except for BTC. He took it over when it was on the brink of bankruptcy and has restructured it while keeping all the employees. The hand-blown glass domes come from a glass blowing shop in Worcestershire which Bowles also bought. In addition to domes for lamps, the shop produces coloured glass windows for historical buildings and churches. A handful of glass blowers with their two small smelting furnaces practice the methods of glass blowing and uphold the once famous English tradition of this trade. The British manufacture of the lamps extends to the cables, too. Bowles was dissatisfied with the plastic wrapped cables on his first lamp, so he used a locally produced cloth wrapped cable from a clothes iron for his exhibition piece. The reaction was so positive that he has used cloth cable since. They are locally produced near the firm in home-based work.