Using our lighting in the USA

All our lamp shades (paper, fabric or wood) can be used in the US.

We cannot export the hanging kits / brass sockets on our website to the US because they are European standard and are not UL certified, but we do supply adapters to make fitting our shades easier in the US. The samples in all our pictures below come from https://www.grandbrass.com/

1. Paper Shades

We are slowly changing our paper shades so that they hang from a cord grip attached directly to the flex rather than from the socket. Most of our shades now use a cord grip which attaches to the flex.

A couple of styles still come with a hanging bracket with an EU/UK E27 standard internal aperture diameter of 41mm which will fit most standard E26 pendants in the US.

We have tested our paper and fabric shades with this socket. There is a range of these E26 pendant sets at Grand Brass. We have also had good feedback about Brighttia who also have a range of plug in pendants in a variety of colours and styles - if you are unsure of anything please get in touch.

We will also supply an adapter with your order which will change the internal diameter to 34mm to fit UL certified brass UNO thread lampsockets.

The adapter slots inside the bracket and reduces the diameter to 34mm.

Which will fit an E26 Brass UNO thread lampsocket.

If you have any doubts or concerns, please contact us before ordering!

2. Fabric Shades

All our fabric shades (both drum shades and soft gathered shades) come with a UK/EU Standard E27 41mm internal diameter fitting.

This will fit most standard pendants in the US. If in doubt, please check the external diameter of your threaded lampsocket to make sure it is roughly 40 or 41mm.

Our paper and fabric shades all fit a standard E26 phenolic socket without needing any adaptation. We have tested our paper and fabric shades with this socket. There is a range of these E26 pendant sets at Grand Brass.  We have also had good feedback about Brighttia who also have a range of plug in pendants in a variety of colours and styles - if you are unsure of anything please get in touch.

We will supply a 34mm adapter with all our shades shipped to the US. This reduces the fitting diameter to fit a brass UNO thread lampsocket.

We have tested all our shades with this Uno thread brass socket from Grand Brass. It comes as part of a kit including a braided silk cord. It is a very similar colour and style to the socket we stock on our website.

However, for table lamps, the sockets can be different sizes and diameters, or even not have shade rings at all. Please check the fitting style and diameter and if you have any doubts, please get in touch before ordering a shade. We can supply shades with a US finial fitting for use with a harp, but please email to check before ordering!

3. Wooden Shades

The cap on most E26 phenolic pendant sockets is too wide for our wooden shades. Maybe a different phenolic socket would fit these shades, but all of our customers so far want to replicate the brass socket we use on our site.

US brass E26 sockets have a smaller external diameter and do not fit the European standard diameter shade aperture very well. While they do work without adapters, the shades can be hard to keep in position. So, we have sourced some adapters to use with our shades.

We have tested all our shades with this Uno thread brass socket, it comes as part of a kit including a braided silk cord. It is a very similar colour and style to the socket we stock on our website.

Here, you can see the space if you use the E26 brass socket without an adapter.

The shade rings on the standard E26 socket will just fit on and do up.

But it can be hard to get the shade centred on the socket and hanging straight.

To prevent this, we have a brass collar that will screw onto the bottom half of the lamp socket. This will then give a nice snug fit for the shades. 

The adapter will come with two shade rings. Wind the first one on tight as far as it will go. This will then leave enough room to put the lower ring on once the shade is in position.

Once fitted, the shade should look like this!

Every wooden shade will come with one of these brass adapters. This is the best way to get this shade to work in the USA. If you have any doubts or are not sure about which lampsocket to get please get in touch before ordering!