• Friendly, Knowledgeable Support Team
  • Order Before 1pm For Next Day Delivery*
  • Rated Excellent On Trustpilot +10,000 Reviews
  • 60 Day Returns
Save up to 70% on selected handles & knobs SHOP SALE

Vintage Naturalist: Create your own on-trend vintage light

vintage naturalist light

Being as we are a company of vintage lovers we couldn’t help but be intrigued by an interiors trend dubbed ‘Vintage Naturalist’. It quite sparked our imaginations and I decided to investigate further.

We’ve seen the trend for digital prints of large old-fashioned blooms like chrysanthemums, peonies and roses continue through summer into autumn and winter. However, although vintage naturalist is clearly inspired by nature, it has a whole different vibe to digital print opulent booms.

Where opulent blooms is large floral motifs in strong dark shades with pops of vibrant colour, vintage naturalist is a softer, more muted colour palette of faded browns, greens and earthy reds. Much more sympathetic with the 70s revival currently also very much en vogue. In fact come to think about it, I’m sure my parents had some wall paper very much in line with this trend when I was growing up.

Vintage naturalist is an interiors trend featuring botanical plant drawings, sketches of butterflies, watercolours of birds, retro spinning globes and vintage suitcase stickers. Its influence apparently lies with historical explorers and geologists like Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) and Alfred Russel Wallace (8 January 1823 – 7 November 1913). Think archaeological digs and camps with canvas tents… But as always, you can put your own spin on any trend – retro globes for example come in many styles, perfectly illustrated by this selection from Marks & Spencer’s home accessories.

spinning globes

As always we can’t help ourselves but to bring a trend back to our first love… Vintage industrial lighting. We think this traveller trend is the perfect setting for some utilitarian style bare bulbs hung with a length of fabric cable. And as luck would have it (!) we stock all the component parts you’ll need to create your very own retro light. Be inspired by this trend and then make your own vintage light pendant to perfectly match your own personality and interior decor style.

Create Your Own Lights

Creating your own lights…

If you’ve never created your own lights, this is a great time to start – just have a quick watch of our video below and then visit our online store to pick up your bits. 

What do you need to create your own light?

  • Vintage light bulb
  • Light bulb holder
  • Ceiling rose
  • Fabric cable for lighting
  • Cage light shade

First of all choose yourself one of our gorgeous vintage light bulbs; we have traditional Edison bulbs in a variety of shapes and sizes as well as some amazing LED filament bulbs.

vintage light bulbs

…And then a light bulb holder (make sure you get them both in the same fitting; E14, E27 or B22). A matching ceiling rose will really cement your theme and pull your whole light creation together.

polished copper ceiling roses group shot on pink background
polished copper e27 ribbed screw lamp holder against white background

Next have a browse through our collection of fabric cable for lighting. The lighting cable you choose is ultimately what really determines the style of your light – we have laid-back tactile textured fabric cable, smooth and classic cable plus period drama inspired braided or twisted fabric cable. Our cables come in a wide variety of colours and shades ranging from soft and muted to bold and vibrant, plus everything in between.

fabric cable lighting

Finally, give your light a real industrial edge and finish off with one of our cage light shades – perfect for recreating that utilitarian travel look from times gone by.

cage light shades

Have fun creating your own light fitting – be sure to visit the Create Your Own Lights section of our website for everything you need.

create your own lights web page
Avatar for Lyz

Written by: Lyz

Meet Lyz, our brilliant Head of Brand here at Dowsing & Reynolds. When she’s not busy leading the marketing team and making sure our brand is represented authentically in everything we do, Lyz loves nothing more than quad skating, making scented candles, and reading books on her favourite subjects - which range from interior and graphic design to quantum physics!

  • Grand Designs
  • Living Etc
  • Good Homes
  • Elle Decoration
  • DIY SOS
  • 25 Beautiful Homes

*Except where products are made to order. Such products are clearly marked that they have a longer lead time.