We also cover questions related to lamp shade fitters in our How to Measure a Lamp Shade guide! If you still find yourself stumped by lamp shade fitter questions, Shades of Light Customer Service is happy to guide you in your search.
Types Of Lamp Shades: Shapes, Material & Styling
Once you understand the fitter requirements of your lamp base, you can move on to less technical style considerations such as shapes, materials, and design aesthetics.
What Are Different Shapes of Lamp Shades?
- Drum Shades: This silhouette features a circular top and bottom, which, combined with its short height, resembles the appearance of a drum. For shades with a circular top and bottom that are taller than drum shades, shop the term "cylinder shades".
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Tip: You will often find the phrase “softback shades” associated with pleated designs because the fabric covering the shade’s frame (usually made of wire) is stitched directly onto the metal frame. In contrast, “hardback shades” are produced when the fabric is laminated onto a hard synthetic inner layer to give the shade structure.
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Bell Shades: A simple way to describe this shape is an empire shade with a little more flare—literally! A bell shade also has a top diameter that is about one-half the diameter of the bottom measurement, but the lines slope down and flare out to a multi-sided bottom with (usually around six to eight) corners.
