Designer Lighting

dr_p_manning

Hi,

I'm looking for some new lights for a kitchen / diner refurbishment. I want to buy somthing that is well designed and well made so i can keep it for a number of years (probably outlast me). I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of the below companies?

www.imero.co.uk
www.tala.co.uk
www.busterandpunch.com

Thanks in advance 

Rob

grumbler

dr_p_manning said:

 I want to buy somthing that is ...well made ... (probably outlast me). I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of the below companies?

If the bulbs are replaceable, almost  any light fittings will last for decades.

If the lights are integrated, then, I think, nobody will be able to help you - unless you are going to die very soon.

 

Doozergirl

I've purchased all our recessed lighting from

John Cullen.   They're right up at the top end
- they recommend Tala for bulbs when you buy your own hanging fittings and lamps.    I've spent a fortune on lighting as I'm a total sucker for it.  Some of the lights were working on Thursday evening and it was the most excited I have been about anything so far.   It transformed our drab building site into something like a home.  The colour of the light is warm and welcoming and my kitchen island glows rather than the room being lit.  You're drawn to objects, not the light.  

John Cullen have a lot of webinars on their site that they were running regularly through lockdown.  I watched hours of them and managed to design my own scheme, with a bit of advice rather than paying for design.     I'd really recommend watching them as it's the principal of how you light a room that is most important.   Using layers and consistency of colour in your lighting - they recommend Tala bulbs for that reason - consistency of colour.  

This is going to be one of those things where a lot of MSErs will say it's not MSE, but Martin's principal is that you can buy what you like if you can afford it - money saving in the right areas will allow luxuries.  I benefitted from a trade discount, the VAT saving on a new build, obtaining the initial planning permission for a new dwelling in the first place,  as well as using the webinars to teach me so I could save on design fees.  The fittings should last forever and I'm absolutely sure that the lighting will help me through the long winter nights.  I suffer with SAD so I think that's why I'm obsessed with lighting.  Even if you look in an Ikea room set, they have so many points of light in a room!  

Buster & Punch have got themselves a good reputation of quality.  I fell in love with their hardware a few years ago.  Dowsing & Reynolds seem to have a very similar offering for less.  I'm not talking about lights here, I couldn't wait any longer for out of stock door handles but ended up finding similar again from Carlisle Brass for a significant amount less.  The quality and weight is stunning.  In all honesty, B&P may have brought the design to market but I couldn't conceive that the quality is better for being 60% more expensive.  

Not a light, but again, it's going to be the bulbs that you use in a lamp that are important - you can change the actual lamps or pendants with fashion, it's the bones you concentrate on if you want high quality.   With the right bones you could stick a decent bulb in a £5 lamp and be happy.  

dr_p_manning

Doozergirl said:

I've purchased all our recessed lighting from

John Cullen.   They're right up at the top end
- they recommend Tala for bulbs when you buy your own hanging fittings and lamps.    I've spent a fortune on lighting as I'm a total sucker for it.  Some of the lights were working on Thursday evening and it was the most excited I have been about anything so far.   It transformed our drab building site into something like a home.  The colour of the light is warm and welcoming and my kitchen island glows rather than the room being lit.  You're drawn to objects, not the light.  

John Cullen have a lot of webinars on their site that they were running regularly through lockdown.  I watched hours of them and managed to design my own scheme, with a bit of advice rather than paying for design.     I'd really recommend watching them as it's the principal of how you light a room that is most important.   Using layers and consistency of colour in your lighting - they recommend Tala bulbs for that reason - consistency of colour.  

This is going to be one of those things where a lot of MSErs will say it's not MSE, but Martin's principal is that you can buy what you like if you can afford it - money saving in the right areas will allow luxuries.  I benefitted from a trade discount, the VAT saving on a new build, obtaining the initial planning permission for a new dwelling in the first place,  as well as using the webinars to teach me so I could save on design fees.  The fittings should last forever and I'm absolutely sure that the lighting will help me through the long winter nights.  I suffer with SAD so I think that's why I'm obsessed with lighting.  Even if you look in an Ikea room set, they have so many points of light in a room!  

Buster & Punch have got themselves a good reputation of quality.  I fell in love with their hardware a few years ago.  Dowsing & Reynolds seem to have a very similar offering for less.  I'm not talking about lights here, I couldn't wait any longer for out of stock door handles but ended up finding similar again from Carlisle Brass for a significant amount less.  The quality and weight is stunning.  In all honesty, B&P may have brought the design to market but I couldn't conceive that the quality is better for being 60% more expensive.  

Not a light, but again, it's going to be the bulbs that you use in a lamp that are important - you can change the actual lamps or pendants with fashion, it's the bones you concentrate on if you want high quality.   With the right bones you could stick a decent bulb in a £5 lamp and be happy.  

Thanks for this. Yes, one friend suggested Tala and another said she had read about them in the Sunday Times, there was an awful article about them being in trouble with trading standards and the bulbs just being the same items from China others were selling but at a higher price. So i'm not sure about them, but they do have some nice chandeliers. 

I'm not sure i like the sound of a £5 lamp. It surely can't be made of high quality materials and made so that all workers are paid fairly? I/m not anti China made as long as it's made in a fashion where no one is exploited. 

My wife likes the imero lightings, but she found them on facebook and i'm wary of things like that so will give the company website a good read. 

I got all my GU10 downlights from well-lit, expensive, but , my gosh they produce a lovely warm light https://well-lit.co.uk/product/7w-dimmable-led-spot/

Michela

@Doozergirl I was doing a google search on John Cullen and this post appeared. I am undertaking a kitchen diner renovation and have read every single article by Sally Storey (from John Cullen), so have tried to do layers of light in my design. 
I really like the downlights from JC with a black baffle, although my partner thinks a black baffle will make them really noticeable as we have a 2.5 meter ceiling, but I think it will help stop the glare.
So I am keen to get a white trim, recessed downlight with a black baffle but I'm not clear how you order from JC or find out the cost.
Do you have to go directly to them? 
I am even confused by their website as the Polespring 50 as so many various options to do with angles.

I am under such pressure from my builder to get the lights sorted, I don't want to end up with rubbish ones due to time constraints.
If JC isn't an option do you have any other suggestions for downlights? It's mostly for task lighting in the kitchen. 

 Thanks

Doozergirl

The black baffle makes the light less noticeable when it is on.   You notice where the light falls, not the fitting.  You don't really notice the black during the day.  The light itself is recessed quite far back, so it's just set back in the shade, not really obviously black.  We haven't finished all the lighting yet, I've got the LED strip to add in several places and need to get the lamps on the 5 amp plugs I've bought, but I'm delighted already.  The house is cosy
and the 2700 kelvin light is
instrumental in that.  

We made a loose appointment to go
and speak to a salesperson,
going over my sketch-up drawing of the house, and we asked a few quick questions of the designers a few times when we weren't quite sure what to do in certain places.  The salesperson sent through a quote within a couple of days.  
 

I've not gone any bigger than the Polespring 40.  Mainly medium beams, but narrow beams are good for highlighting something specific - like something on a coffee table or shining into a wash basin to highlight it.  I have a couple of wide angles in the kitchen shining onto a slightly larger expanse of wall units.  If you can access the webinars where they deal with specific room designs, it's really helpful to know what to put where.