Made for
one room.
A chandelier scaled to one stairwell. A finish matched to the ironwork on a balustrade. A design that so far exists only as an idea. Caspen's specialists work across the UK and Europe, in glass, crystal, alabaster and metal.
A brief from 1784
Jean Démosthène Dugourc drew this chandelier for Grand Duke Paul of Russia. The blue was to be Sèvres porcelain, the yellow gilt bronze and the drops rock crystal, at about 150cm tall. Along the bottom of the sheet he wrote the brief in one line.
'Lustre, a 24. Bougies, en Bronze, porcelaine, et Cristeaux De Roche.'
A chandelier of 24 candles, in bronze, porcelain and rock crystal.
It was never made, which is the one part we would change.
Design for a chandelier, Jean Démosthène Dugourc, 1784. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
If it can be drawn, we can have it made.
The makers named on this site are only the start of it. Behind them, Caspen works with specialists who appear in no catalogue, and each brief goes to the hands best suited to it. You bring the drawing, the photograph or the height it has to fill. Finding the workshop is our job.
Long drops
Crystal, glass or alabaster, through the full height of a stairwell.
Alabaster
Chosen for its veining and translucency. Turned to a globe, cut to a dome or carried round an open curve.
Cast glass
Sculpted in wax, then cast solid through a slow firing. The bubbles and veils stay in.
Blown glass
Clear, smoked or textured, or in a colour made on request.
Etched brass
Photo-etching can carry a drawing, so the line can start in your own sketchbook.
Crystal
Strands hung in rings and stepped rectangles, to the shape of the ceiling.
Forged metal
Finishes matched to the balustrade and the other metalwork in the house.
Not on this list? Send it anyway.
Long drops, made here
These hang in private houses in Britain, made by the stairwell specialist we work with. Each is built to its own stair, in crystal, glass or alabaster, with the metal finished to match the balustrade. Nothing here came out of a catalogue.
A single workshop has a single handwriting. Caspen works across several, so the material decides who makes the piece.
Some commissions start from a piece that already exists. The houses we represent also make to order, and the photographs below show their own work, named beneath each one. If the design is close, tell us what needs to change: the proportions, the finish, the drop.
A column as tall as the void
A stairwell needs a piece that reads from every landing. Masiero offers a tailor-made service. Terzani arranges custom drops of its Atlantis chain for stairwells and double-height rooms. Italamp's Kaleido is hung leaf by leaf, as a column down the void.
A colour chosen for the room
Most Kaleido elements come in ten glass colours, from smoked and teak to bluino and salmon, used alone or mixed within one composition. Multiforme makes its Desafinado in nine mixes of its own, and in single colours or custom compositions on request.
Metal that falls like cloth
Barlas Baylar drapes lengths of fine brass chain over polished bands, almost three miles of it in the larger forms. Gianluca Regazzo knits slender metal thread into a textile, then fixes each fold in space by hand, so no two are alike.
The right design, in the wrong size
A commission can be a small change. Moiré is 65cm across as standard, and Terzani has drawn it at 120cm for a single project. Its design team will also change the wire length and the finish. If the design is right and the proportions are not, that is a brief.
One idea, composed to the room
Kaleido is a vocabulary rather than a finished fitting: handmade elements in glass, porcelain and crystal, and a set of ways to hang and light them. Italamp publishes forty-five compositions, each in up to nine sizes, and calls them suggestions.
Drawn and prototyped first
Multiforme designs bespoke pieces in art glass, including large and oversized work, to the client's own idea. Its technical office supplies graphic proposals, renderings and technical drawings, and its team makes prototypes and models.
Write the first line of the brief
Dugourc's ran to one line. Yours can too.
The space
The material
What you have so far
Add the ceiling height and any photographs of the room. The studio takes it from there.
From sketch to ceiling
Conversation
It begins with the space, the scheme and any references or sketches you are working from.
Drawing
Form, materials and how the piece is lit are developed with you, with the maker best suited to them.
Scale and cost
Scale is checked against the room. Cost and lead time are clear before anything is committed.
Making
When the design is right, it is made. We keep you informed through production, and the finished piece arrives ready to install.
What can be specified
- Scale
- Large and oversized pieces in art glass (Multiforme). A design redrawn at a new size (Terzani)
- Drop
- Wire length on Moiré, custom drops on Atlantis (Terzani). Cascades to 8m (Italamp)
- Composition
- Forty-five published arrangements, or one drawn for the room (Italamp)
- Colour
- Ten glass colours, alone or mixed (Italamp). Single colours or custom mixes (Multiforme)
- Finish
- Six plated finishes on Atlantis, and the finish on a bespoke Moiré (Terzani)
- Fixing
- False ceiling, plate, rails or a 6mm steel grid, with plates and grids painted to disappear (Italamp)
- Drawings
- Graphic proposals, renderings and technical drawings (Multiforme)
- Installation
- Our own delivery and installation
- Standards
- CE as standard, with UL or other standards requested at order (Multiforme)
These are published options from the houses we represent. Work by our other specialists is specified to the brief. The studio confirms everything at design stage.
We would rather tell you early that something needs rethinking than discover it late.
41 years in lighting
The conversation is grounded in what can actually be made, sourced and installed.
Cost before commitment
We will be clear about what is straightforward, what is more involved, and what it means for cost and lead time.
Delivered and installed
Delivery is free across mainland UK. With our own installation, a piece does not arrive on a pallet with a phone number attached.
Begin a commission
A few words about the project and the space it is for are enough. Attach anything that helps: references, sketches, photographs of the room.
Close to something already made? Start from the makers and tell us what needs to change.
Pieces with a name beneath them are that maker's own work. Each commission is developed to its own brief, by the specialist best suited to it.
