The newly decorated dining room was in dire need of a new light since the chintzy chandelier was binned.
After ditching Plan A in a moment of spontaneity in John Lewis we went for a bold Plan B, in the shape of a striking Kartell Fly pendant ceiling light in orange. Here’s what it looks like in a showroom / brochure:
Quite impressive, quite striking, modern, etc. At least, that’s the idea… however, after unboxing the light, switching electrics off, struggling through the rather sparse fitting instructions by torchlight, and diligently NOT removing the protective film from the shade until installation was finished we were pretty disappointed. That big orange shiny shade was covered in little (and not so little scratches).
Fair enough, these things happen so we dug out the receipt and John Lewis swapped the shade with no fuss. Got the new shade home, electrics off, fitted it in the dark again, peeled protective film off again, electrics on…
Grrr, even worse! More scratches, even bigger!
After wasting a couple of evenings fitting / unfitting the light twice, and a couple of lunchtimes collecting from John Lewis twice we’ve given up. We’ll dig out the receipt again and get a refund. The Kartell Fly seems to be style over substance, as whatever they do to manufacture and/or protect the shade during transit just isn’t up to scratch.
We’ve reverted to Plan A and gone a bit more traditional with the John Lewis Elio 5. Much better!
Barnacle's Choice 