The character of antique glass carboys, of demijohns, is something we’ve always been drawn to. They would catch our eye at flea markets, but short of displaying a few stems of pampas grass in them, we struggled to warrant their space in the shop as decorative items alone.
During lockdown, when our own four walls at home were the boundaries of our day-to-day, our eyes came to rest on the demijohn on our sideboard, with our thoughts turning to how we could repurpose the bulbous bottle. Their rotund bodies and long necks lend themselves towards becoming lamp bases, but we weren’t keen on trailing the cable outside the bottle. The prospect of punching a hole through the fragile, bubble-flecked glass, however, filled us with trepidation.
We tested on a few milk bottles (with disastrous results) before eventually plucking up the courage to tentatively try it on our one at home, hoping that it would survive the process! The thicker glass was thankfully more forgiving and before long we were threading it up with vintage-style linen flex and pinching a lampshade from another base. That first lamp still illuminates our kitchen to this day.
When we could find the time we would make a couple for our shop, but never felt like we had the space to really do them justice. In the spring of 2023, when we were planning the first floor shop expansion, Lamp Corner was on the sketches from the very beginning. It now holds our ever-changing range of bottle lamps which are still made in-house by us. James has perfected the cleaning, drilling and wiring process. In making close to 150 lamps we have only ever had one casualty.
Due to unique nature of each lamp and the rate they whizz out of our shop, we don't often get a chance to add them to our website. Our Instagram account usually shows our current selection, and you can easily reach out to us for more images, sizes and prices. We can post lamps within the UK.
A couple of times a year we travel over to France to hand pick a selection of bottles. Imagination is crucial when rummaging through long-forgotten bottles, which are often caked in decades of dust. Green, small lamps are always snapped up first, so we are often on the lookout for those. Occasionally, we find an enormous show-stopper that we cannot resist. We just have to hope that somebody with a larger home falls in love with it.
Our favourites are the early bottles which were mouth-blown in to moulds, before the tops were roughly broken off as the glass cooled. This leaves a wobbly rim which shows they date from the early 1900s, if not before. Later bottles have a neater rim, as slicker manufacturing processes came in.
We use solid brass fittings along with braided linen flex for a timeless look. Lamps come with 2.3m of flex, but can be made longer if you have a specific spot in mind. Spare flex can be pushed in to the body of the lamp to keep it looking neat and tidy.
We stock plain linen shades which really let the lamp body do the talking. For a more maximalist effect, a pleated or printed shade which includes the colour of the glass is a riot.
As each bottle is unique, it’s best to pop in regularly to our Shaftesbury shop to see what we’ve been making. Alternatively, reach out via email (hello@thebotanicalcandleco.co.uk) or phone (01747 859200) and we'll be happy to talk you through the options.
Hey Pippa, yes they would have all once been housed in either a plastic mesh basket, a woven basket or a split wood basket. Sometimes we buy them still in these baskets, although they’re always filthy and need cutting out and cleaning up right away!
Hi, did some of your demijohns come covered in a sort of protective plastic mesh which you had to remove please or did they always start out as just glass? I’m just interested in their history.Many thanks.Regards Pippa