Vintage stone lighting - close but no cigar

These fibreglass and resin garden lights are painted to look like stone. The idea is to solve that garden design quandary: how to find garden lighting that is attractive in the day?

By day these lights from Joanna Wallis really are convincing in their imitation of a vintage stone globe, whilst at night the light glows through the resin and fibreglass, turning the globe into a sort of lamp.

It sounds too good to be true. Finally, a solution to my pet dilemma... and you could even hide a solar panel in their rather than a bulb, so no power or wiring would be necessary.

The Fibreglass and resin shell is pretty convincing in the daylight

But whilst the painted fibreglass/resin shell makes a suprisingly accurate immiation of vintage stone sculptural accents, it just looks wrong for a stone pillar to light up at night -

and dare I say it.... rather tacky.

But at night, it just looks silly and terribly cheap...

It really is an interesting idea to try and create a cameleon form of lighting that is camouflagued in daylight - or even one that draws attention to itself as a different sculptural focal point in the daytime. I'm looking forward to the day when a canny product designer takes the essence of this idea just a little bit further - replacing the bulb with solar cells and creating a form which works day and night with equal elegance and conviction.

So, three cheers for Joanna Wallis for her contribution thus far, but it looks like there is still a long way to go.

Does garden lighting always look awful in the day?

Sylvia raised an interesting point, that so much of the garden lighting that looks beautiful at night can look pretty dire in the daytime. A very good point - which is why most lighting designers go to such lengths to show the effect of light whilst hiding the source.

But if you are trying to create a light sculpture, is it possible to design something that looks good during the day too?

I wonder if inspiration can be taken from Fiona Heron and her glass sculptures...

Golden Dew - Wolfgang and Heron

A range of individually-made flower sculptures. Hand blown glass heads on steel stems for the garden. £75 for groups of 5

Could these be adapted to become solar lights at night without loosing their essential translucent beauty?

I first came across the work of Wolfgang and Heron at Westonbirt Festival of the Garden 2004. I'll have a root through my photos because the images on their site really don't do the beauty of the garden justice. Blocks of deschampsia and then stipa gigantea are overlaid with a grid of silver birch - with these glass sculptures glinting in the light. It was a garden of restrained simplicity that focussed on the movement of grass, shadows and the play of light.


Further gardens from the Westonbirt Festival of the Garden can be seen on the website. The Festival is sadly no longer running although it has been replaced by a new festival Future Gardens which opens this year in St Albans.

Another designer who I think has suceeded in producing light sculptures that work both day and night is Julie Nelson

Elipse Sculpture by Julie Nelson

Her interest in ceramics, as a material for lighting, is not based on its translucency but on its opacity, the way the light bounces around and fills recesses, accentuating the form. All nelson lights serve a dual function; emitting a warm ambient light in the evening, whilst retaining their aesthetic appeal during the day.

Sponge Sculpture by Julie Nelson

I'm sure there are plenty more hit and misses out there in the world of garden lighting and would love to hear your nominations and thoughts...