Skip to content

Usual lead times

A note about August
August, in Mireille's words

We close from the 1st to the 24th of August. The steam iron goes off, I go down to my sister's in the Drôme and I try very hard not to make anything with my hands for three weeks. If you post a frame to us during that time it is perfectly safe; it waits on the shelf by the door and it is the first thing I open when I'm back.

Mireille

These are the usual lead times, and the quote gives the real date for your shade. A new welded frame adds one week to any of them. The workshop also closes from 24 December to 2 January.

Froumbra
MenuClose
hello@froumbra.com

Lampshades made to order · Lyon · Since 2013

Made to the Lamp. Old Frames Dressed Again.

Froumbra cuts, sews and pleats lampshades by hand in a Lyon workshop, each one made to fit the lamp it will sit on. Old frames come in too, and go home stripped, straightened and dressed again in linen, cotton or silk.

  • Since 2013
  • Lyon
  • Sewn by hand
Front elevation of an empire lampshade frame with a 40 cm base and an 18 cm top. The left half is bare wire; the right half is dressed in knife-pleated silk with a lining edge showing below the bottom ring. Fig. 1 Empire frame, half dressed Sheet 01 · Workshop drawings Bare Dressed Top 18 cm Drop 26 cm Base 40 cm Duplex fitting Knife pleats Silk dupion Lining edge Bare wire 0 10 20 cm Froumbra · Lyon Empire 40 / 18 / 26 cm Knife pleat · lined
Fig. 1An empire frame, 40 cm at the base. Bare wire on the left, knife-pleated silk over a balloon lining on the right.
Order a new shade Bring us an old frame
Fig. 2 · SectionTailored empire, wall detail
Cross-section through the wall of a tailored empire shade, showing the outer silk wrapped over both taped rings and the balloon lining sewn inside. Axis Drop 26 cm Outer silk Balloon lining Top ring Cotton binding tape
Fig. 2The outer silk is pulled over both rings and turned in; the balloon lining sits inside so no strut shows when the bulb is on.

New shades

New Shades, Cut to the Lamp They Sit On

A new shade starts with three measurements taken from your lamp: the top ring, the bottom ring and the drop.

Mireille drafts the pattern from those numbers rather than from a catalogue size, binds the rings in cotton tape, sews the cover to them by hand and fits a balloon lining so the inside is as clean as the outside. Drums, empires, bells, coolies, square-cornered and oval shades are all made here, and the new shades page walks through each one with the fabrics that suit it.

A tailored empire or tapered shade with a 30 to 45 cm base costs €180 to €290; hand knife-pleated silk at the same size is €360 to €540. Everything else, from floor-lamp shades to fitting changes, is on the full price list.

See the six shapes
Fig. 3 · ElevationAn old frame as it arrives
A bare old empire frame in elevation with three marks: a bent strut, a weld lifted from the top ring, and the washer missing from the duplex fitting. 1 Bent strut 2 Lifted weld 3 Missing washer Base 40 cm
Fig. 3Three faults that look worse than they are: a strut bent out of line, a weld lifted from the top ring, a washer gone from the fitting. All three are repaired at the bench.

Recovering

Old Frames Are Usually Worth Saving

Under a split or stained cover there is nearly always a sound set of rings waiting to be used again.

A strut knocked out of line in a house move, a weld that has lifted, a washer lost from the fitting: each of these is straightened, re-soldered or replaced while the frame is stripped. Stripping, straightening and repainting with new cotton binding tape costs €35 to €70 depending on the struts and the damage, and a drum or straight-sided frame up to 30 cm comes back in linen or cotton for €85 to €120.

The one thing not patched is a ring that has rusted through; that frame is replaced. The list of what can be saved covers each fault and roughly what it adds, and the recovering page follows a frame from the shelf to the finished shade.

How a frame is recovered

Shapes

Four Shapes Most Lamps Ask For

Six shapes are made in the workshop. These four cover most of the lamps that come through the door; square-cornered and oval shades are drawn on the shapes page with their sizes and fabrics.

All six shapes
ElevationDrum
Elevation of a drum shade with straight sides and equal top and bottom rings. Top equals base

Drum

Straight-sided, so it suits a tall column base, a pair of bedside lamps or anything modern that wants a clean edge. Linen and cotton sit well on it, and it is the quickest shape to recover.

From€85

Recovering a drum or straight-sided frame up to 30 cm in linen or cotton, €85 to €120.

ElevationEmpire
Elevation of an empire shade tapering from a narrow top ring to a wide base. Base 30 to 45 cm

Empire

The empire tapers from a narrow top to a wide base, the shape most inherited lamps were first sold with. It suits a turned wooden or ceramic base with a shoulder, and takes a tailored cover or pleated silk equally well.

From€180

Tailored empire, 30 to 45 cm base, hand-sewn with a balloon lining, €180 to €290.

ElevationBell
Elevation of a bell shade whose sides curve outward to a flared hem. Base 30 to 45 cm

Bell

The bell flares at the hem in a soft curve, which is why it belongs on brass candlesticks, glass bases and anything a little ornate. That curve will not lie flat in card, so bells are sewn, and they look their best pleated.

From€360

Hand knife-pleated silk, 30 to 45 cm base, lined, €360 to €540.

ElevationCoolie
Elevation of a coolie shade, a wide and shallow cone with a small top ring. Low, wide cone

Coolie

A wide, shallow cone that throws light down onto a desk or a reading chair. It suits a swing-arm or a low lamp beside a sofa, and it is cut from a single arc of fabric like the pattern in Fig. 4.

From€180

Tailored tapered shade, 30 to 45 cm base, with a balloon lining, €180 to €290.

Fig. 4 · Flat pattern25 / 40 cm taper on the cutting table
Flat pattern for a tapered shade with a 25 cm top and a 40 cm base, laid out as an arc on a gridded cutting table, with the seam allowance dotted along one edge. To apex · R 69.3 cm Top arc 78.5 cm 25 / 40 cm taper Cut 1 silk · cut 1 lining Seam 1.5 cm Base arc 125.7 cm Cutting table · squares of 5 cm
Fig. 4A tapered shade unrolled flat: one arc, cut from the top and base measurements, with a dotted allowance where the seam closes.

The workshop

One Room in Lyon, Two Pairs of Hands

Mireille spent eleven years in a theatre costume workroom before opening Froumbra in 2013, in a ground-floor room where neighbours watched the work through the window.

Anouk joins her at the bench on Thursdays and Fridays. Between them around 400 shades leave the workshop each year, roughly half new and half recovered. There is no minimum order and a single shade is the usual job; matching sets are taken up to 12 identical shades.

Who does what, how a tailored shade is put together and which materials are used are all on the workshop page. So is what we turn away, from hotel contract runs to silk shades over a hot bulb, each with its reason.

Inside the workshop

Before you write

How an Order Works

Deposit

40%

Paid when the order is confirmed, and not refundable once the fabric has been cut. The balance is settled on collection or before the shade is posted.

Hand delivery

25 km

Delivered by hand within 25 km of Lyon on Friday afternoons for €20, free on orders over €400. Collection from the workshop is always free.

Quotes

3 days

Send photos and measurements to hello@froumbra.com and a quote comes back within 3 working days. Double-boxed posting in mainland France is €35 to €55.

Nothing is promised in under 10 working days, whatever the lead times say.

What to put in your email

Next

Where to Go From Here

Starting from a bare lamp, or from a frame in the attic. Either way the first step is a few photos and three measurements.