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The Original 1227 User Guide - Part 1: Kitchen/Dining Room Lighting

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This is part 1 of a 5-part series of guides on using the iconic Original 1227™ range at home. For part 2 (living room lighting), click here. For part 3 (bedroom lighting), click here. Written by design writer Charlotte Abrahams.

In the beginning there was the Original 1227™. Launched by Anglepoise® in 1935 as a result of the pioneering work of automotive engineer George Carwardine, this three spring, articulated task light set the standard by which all other desk lights are now measured and has become an internationally acclaimed design icon. And that includes the garden.

The 1930s design has been refined and re-interpreted over the years to suit changing technologies and tastes, and the classic desk lamp has been joined by a whole family of Original 1227™ models ranging from the compact Mini to the over-sized Giant, via brass trimmed versions and our latest iteration, an Original 1227™ Mini Collection with bone china shade. Versatile, functional, unfailingly chic and built to last a lifetime, there is something in the Anglepoise® Original 1227™ family for every room in the house.

With so many options to choose from, deciding what to use where could be confusing. With that in mind, we have put together a room-by-room guide packed with useful tips and brilliant ideas to help you light up you home. We will begin in the room most of us consider to be the heart of the home: the kitchen/diner.

Kitchen / Dining Room Lighting

Good light is the corner stone of any properly functioning kitchen. Cooking requires focused task light– you don’t want to be chopping garlic in the gloom after all – but these days, kitchens often also multi task as dining and living rooms and that means thinking about the atmospheric lighting too. It sounds complicated but, with a bit of planning, achieving perfection is easy.

Task Lighting

This is the type of light you need to illuminate your work tops and cooking area. The secret of a good task light is not brightness but positioning – get it wrong and you will find yourself preparing food in the shadows. Task light should always come from behind, or to the side, of where you are working and the light source should be below eye level.

Work tops: Wall lights are a very effective way of lighting worktops. Choose a design with a flexible shade that can be rotated to direct the light precisely where you need it, such as the Original 1227™ Wall Light which features a neat back plate with integral switch, or, for even more flexibility, the Original 1227™ Wall Mounted Light. Both designs are available in two sizes, standard and Mini.

Alternatively, if your worktop runs wall to wall, try lighting it with a row of Original 1227™ Pendants suspended from the ceiling. Hang them low so that you can’t see the bulb (the braided cords are a feature in themselves) at evenly spaced intervals above the work surface. There are 4 sizes of pendant to choose from so pick the size that works best proportionally with the size of your room.

Islands: Kitchen islands are often places where friends and family gather to chat and snack as much as work stations and their central position means that they are a major design feature too so you need to go for a statement light. The Original 1227™ Maxi Pendant in brass would be a good choice. Hang it low enough to conceal the bulb, but high enough so that it casts good general light across the island. A line of Original 1227™ Mini Ceramic pendants pendants over a smaller island would look the part.

Of course, pendants are not the only option for work stations. One or more Original 1227™ Desk Lamps would give you functional, flexible light oozing with industrial chic.

Ambient lighting

This is the lighting that turns your kitchen from a working laboratory into a welcoming, domestic space. Small kitchens may need nothing more than a single overhead pendant that bathes the entire room in a good general light (the Original 1227™ Pendant comes in four sizes), but larger spaces, particularly if there’s room for a comfy seat in a corner, may benefit from a floor lamp as well. For maximum flexibility, go for one with an angled shade such as the Original 1227™ Floor Lamp that you can use as both an ambient uplighter (tilt the shade towards the ceiling) and a focused task light.

If your kitchen has a dining table, try lighting it with a single over-sized pendant (the Original 1227™ Giant Pendant comes in a range of stunning colours) or a cluster of smaller Original 1227™ Mini Ceramic Pendants for a contemporary take on the chandelier.

This is part 1 of a 5-part series of guides on using the iconic Original 1227™ range at home. Written by design writer Charlotte Abrahams.