Eclipse Lampshade Sizes: Short, Medium, Large or Long

ferm LIVING makes the Eclipse lampshade in four proportions, and they behave very differently once they are lit and hung. This guide compares the Short, Medium, Large and Long side by side, then works through three real placements (over a dining table, down a stairwell and beside a bed) so you can pick the one that suits your room rather than the one that looks best in a photograph.

One shade, four proportions

Every Eclipse shares the same construction. The fabric is a linen blend, 90% linen and 10% polyester, stretched over an inner steel structure, and every size takes an E27 socket. The colour range is close to identical too: all four come in Natural and Sand, while the two smaller sizes add Curry, a warm ochre that reads quite differently when the bulb is on. What changes from model to model is the relationship between width and height, and that relationship decides where each shade belongs.

The Eclipse Lampshade Short is the wide, low one: 33 cm across and only 18 cm tall, so it is almost twice as broad as it is high. The Eclipse Lampshade Medium is a perfect square in profile, 28 cm by 28 cm, and the lightest of the four. The Eclipse Lampshade Large keeps that near-square balance but scales it up to 42 cm across and 40 cm tall. The Eclipse Lampshade Long breaks the pattern completely: 30 cm wide and 80 cm tall, a column of fabric rather than a drum.

Eclipse sizes compared

The table below collects the figures ferm LIVING gives for each size, along with the bases each shade is designed to sit on and the setting where its proportions work hardest.

Two details in those numbers are worth noticing. The Large and the Long weigh the same, 1.1 kg, despite looking nothing alike, and the Medium is actually lighter than the Short because it uses less width. If you are hanging a shade from a ceiling rose that already carries other fittings, those weights are the figures to check.

Over a dining table

A pendant above a table has two jobs: it has to put light on the surface, and it has to sit in proportion with the table when the light is off. A wide, low shade does the first job well because its open base spreads light across a broader area, and it keeps the sightline clear between people sitting opposite each other.

For a round or square table seating four, a single Eclipse Lampshade Large is the natural choice. At 42 cm across it has enough presence to anchor the table without crowding it, and its 40 cm height gives the shade body, so it does not look like a disc floating in the room. On a long rectangular table, one shade tends to leave the ends in shadow. A row of two or three Shorts works better here: each one is only 18 cm tall, so the line stays low and calm, and the 33 cm width carries the light down the length of the table.

The Medium can hang over a small table for two or a kitchen island, but at 28 cm wide it reads as a modest accent over anything larger. The Long is usually the wrong shade for a dining table; at 80 cm tall it hangs a great deal of fabric into the space between the ceiling and the diners' heads.

Down a stairwell or into a tall room

Vertical spaces are where the Eclipse Lampshade Long earns its place. A stairwell, a double-height hall or a room with a high pitched ceiling leaves a lot of empty air above head height, and a short shade on a long cord can look lost in it. An 80 cm column of linen fills that height with something solid, and because it is only 30 cm wide it does not intrude on the stair itself.

Lit from inside, the tall shade glows along its whole length, which makes it read as a light object in its own right rather than only a source of light. The Long is designed to sit on the Hebe Lamp Base Large as well, so the same shade can work as a tall floor lamp in a living room with generous ceiling height.

If the stairwell is narrow and the ceiling is a standard height, the Long can feel heavy. In that case a single Medium on a longer cord keeps the vertical line without filling the space.

Beside the bed

Bedside lighting is mostly about scale against a small table and a soft light at pillow height. Here the two smaller shades lead. The Medium, square in profile at 28 by 28 cm, sits comfortably on a narrow nightstand and fits the Hebe Lamp Bases in Small and Medium and the Post Table Lamp Base. Its height also shields the bulb from your eyes when you are lying down.

The Short fits the same three bases and suits a wider bedside table or a low chest of drawers. Because it is broad and shallow, it throws more light sideways across the top of the table and less upwards. It can also hang as a pair of pendants either side of a bed, which frees the bedside surface entirely.

The Curry colour is only available in these two sizes, and it is worth considering for a bedroom: a warm ochre fabric gives the lit shade a deeper tone than Natural or Sand.

Hanging an Eclipse: you need a cord set

The Eclipse is sold as a shade only. To use it as a table or floor lamp you add one of the ferm LIVING bases named above; to hang it as a pendant you need a fabric cord set, which provides the cord and the fitting the shade hangs from. ferm LIVING's Fabric Cord Set comes in 2m and 4m lengths, and the right choice depends on the room more than the shade.

The 2m set suits most dining tables and bedrooms with a standard ceiling height, where the shade hangs over a surface. The 4m set is the one for stairwells, double-height spaces and any room where the shade needs to drop well below a tall ceiling, which makes it the usual partner for the Long.

If you are building a lighting scheme around ferm LIVING, our guide to Collect lighting by ferm LIVING looks at the brand's other system of interchangeable sockets and shades. To see the bases, cord sets and the rest of the range in one place, browse the full ferm LIVING collection.