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Last updated 29/2/2024

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Shades made of pleated paper would presumably have been used to shade electric lamps rather than gas lamps, oil lamps or candles, since the risk of fire would otherwise have been too great. Incandescent electric lamps seem to have been first developed commercially in 1879 by Thomas Edison (though he did not invent them).

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1876

There are instructions for making a basic Pleated Paper Lampshade in 'Des Kindes Erste Beschaftigungsbuch' by E Barth and W Niederley, which was first published in Bielefeld and Leipzig, and the foreword of which is dated October 1876.

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1909

A design for an 'Abat-jour' (Lampshade) made from a pleated filter appears in 'Petit Manuel de Travaux d'Amateurs' by H de Graffigny, which was published by Collection A L Guyot in Paris in 1909. The wording reads, roughly, 'By removing from a pleated filter part of its length between the dotted line ab and then turning its opening downwards we obtain a lampshade which simply needs to be fitted with a mount with claws to be fixed onto a lamp.'

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1914

An explanation of how to make a 'Una pantalla' (a screen) appears in 'El Trabajo Manual en la Escuela' by Félix Martí Alpera, which was published by Libreria de los Sucesores de Hernando in Madrid in 1914.

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1933

A pleated lampshade appears as 'Lampion' in 'Jeux de pliages' by Ferdinand Krch, which was published by Flammarion in Paris in 1933.

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1939

As 'Pleated Lampshades' in 'Fun with Paper' by Joseph Leeming, which was published by Spencer Press Inc in Chicago in 1939.

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1949

This advert for Four Way Lampshades appeared in Vol 83 Issue 2855 of Harper's Bazaar for November 1949.

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1951

As 'Un abat-jour' in 'Occupons nos doigts' by Raymond Richard which was published by Les Editions du Cep Beaujolais in Villefranche-sur-Rhone in 1951.

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