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Making light work: why lamps from the Daylight Company are ideal for artists


21 June 2022

Four creatives on the ones they can’t work without


21 June 2022

  • Crafted promotion

Inside the studio of New York-based quilter Giuseppe Ribaudo, AKA Giucy Giuce, who uses a Lumi Task Lamp (pictured) and a Slimline light by the Daylight Company

Any maker whose work requires precise hand movements and minute detail knows the necessity for excellent task lighting. ‘For me, good lighting is just as important as a sharp pair of dressmaking scissors and a needle and thread,’ says seamstress and author Jenniffer Taylor. Like many makers, the Great British Sewing Bee star relies on lamps from the Daylight Company, which has been refining its range for creatives for the past 30 years.

Founder Patrick Jacquelin, whose family heritage is tied to silk manufacturing, launched the company in London in the 1980s after hearing his artist friends complain about the lack of decent lighting available at the time. First he launched lights for painters and sculptors before introducing designs perfectly suited for crafts, such as quilting and sewing.


The Wafer Lightbox, by the Daylight Company

Today the Daylight Company’s lamps are used by makers around the world. Says Jacquelin: ‘We are not geniuses who hide away in a room and come up with a brilliant idea. We just know how to listen.’ The company combines this sensitivity with a rigorous design approach that considers every aspect, from colour temperature to light spread, brightness and ergonomics. It’s this ethos that makes its lamps an essential part of any maker’s equipment.

Here, four artists tell us why they can’t do without the Daylight Company’s best-selling designs.


The Slimline light, in the studio of textile artist Nicole Young

Slimline

'Not only is the Slimline indispensable for sewing or cutting, but the LEDs allow me to see true-to-life colours and select fabrics or match threads any time of the day or night, just as if I was working in the sunlight,’ says Nicole Young of Lillyella stitchery in Colorado. The Slimline comes as a floor lamp or table light that clamps to a desk. Its aluminium shade emits a very bright light and a diffuser spreads this evenly over a large area. Meanwhile, a four-step dimmer allows brightness control.

‘It truly changed everything for me,’ says New York-based quilter Giuseppe Ribaudo, AKA Giucy Giuce, of the lamp. ‘I went from moving every light in my apartment to my sewing table to just using one slick, bright, beautiful light. It made such a remarkable difference. Better light meant better vision meant being able to work more quickly, more efficiently, more precisely.’

Slimline’s LEDs do not get hot, allowing you to work under the light for many hours. This makes it a lifeline for Atlanta-based miniaturist painter Taylor Cox, who often works after the sun has gone down. ‘I paint so much at night, and they help so much,’ says the artist.


The Luminos LED lamp in action

Luminos

This powerful LED lamp offers a very high output and an exceptionally wide spread of light that is also dimmable. Its carbon-fibre arm has a long reach of 112cm and can be moved easily with one hand to exactly where it’s needed.

‘I can fold the Luminos and flip it from the side onto my drawing table,’ says Danish artist Kasper Købke, known for his minutely detailed pencil drawings of architectural scenes. ’And it doesn’t matter if it’s night or daytime, I get the perfect light every time.’ The Luminos is the brightest light in the Daylight Company range.


Kasper Købke using the Wafer Lightbox made by the Daylight Company

Wafer Lightbox

As its name suggests, this lightbox is wafer thin, which makes it easy to handle and transport. ‘It’s so thin, it doesn’t feel like a box,’ says Kasper Købke. ‘I draw very dark areas and I draw very light areas and therefore it is important for me to be able to see the difference. The light from the Wafer Lightbox does that for me.’


  • Young describes it as her 'absolute favourite tool'

  • Lillyella's Nicole Young sketches a design using the Wafer Lightbox

The device comes in A4, A3 and A2 and is a must-have tool for tracing on paper or fabric. Nicole Young describes it as her ‘absolute favourite tool’. She uses her A3 version to precut all her fabric before sewing, as well as for appliqué, embroidery, and a variety of other crafts. ‘The 12.5” x17” surface area is large enough for most any task, but still small enough to travel with,’ she says. ‘The LED bulbs stay cool and are dimmable, my favourite feature.’

Explore the Daylight Company range

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