Paper Lamps: What They Are and How to Hang One
A paper lamp is a light fitting whose shade is made of paper or a paper-based material, lit from the inside by a bulb that does not touch the shade. The paper is the whole point: it holds the light on its own surface and turns a bulb into a soft, even glow. Paper lamps hang from a ceiling, stand on a floor, or sit on a table, and the same object goes by half a dozen different names depending on which of those it does.
This page explains the names, the materials, how one is hung, and how one is lit safely. We design and fold paper lamps ourselves in Amsterdam, so the answers here come from the workshop rather than from a catalogue.
What are paper lamps called?
They are called different things depending on their shape and on how they are powered. The names overlap, and shops use them loosely, which is why the same lamp shows up under four labels.
| The name you see | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Paper lantern | A collapsible paper shade, often for parties. The word also names the sky lantern, which is a different and unrelated object. |
| Paper lampshade | The shade on its own, with no cord and no bulb. You supply the fitting. |
| Paper pendant light | A shade plus a cord, hanging from a ceiling. |
| Rice paper or washi lamp | A shade of Japanese handmade paper stretched over a frame. |
| Paper floor lamp, paper table lamp | The same idea on a stand, standing on the floor or on a table. |
The distinction that matters when you are buying is not the name but the form: does the thing hang, or does it stand? A hanging paper lamp needs a ceiling point and a cord. A standing one needs a socket in the wall and a piece of floor.
Everything we make hangs. Our ready-made paper pendant lights arrive folded and ready to clip onto a ceiling fitting, and our DIY paper lamp kits arrive flat for you to fold yourself.
What kind of paper is used for paper lamps?
Four materials cover almost everything on the market.
Washi and other Japanese handmade papers. Long plant fibres, usually kozo, give a translucent sheet that is far stronger than it looks. This is the traditional material for Japanese paper lights, and it is what most rice paper lamps are made of.
Machine-made rice paper. The mass-market version of the above, thinner and cheaper, used on the folding shades sold in party shops.
Cardstock. Heavy, opaque paper that holds a crease. Light passes through the cutouts rather than through the sheet, so the pattern does the work. Our kits use 300gsm sturdy paper, cut and perforated before it ships.
Paper fabric. A textile made from paper fibre. It behaves like paper to the eye and the hand but does not tear along a fold, and it can be wiped clean under water. Our ready-made lamps are folded from washable paper fabric, a tear-resistant vegan material. This is what we reach for when a lamp has to survive a child's room.
If you are buying for a nursery or a playroom, the material question is really a durability question. Ask what happens to the shade when someone touches it, and what happens after a year of humidity.
Is a paper lamp safe?
Yes, when it is lit by an LED bulb of 15 watts or less. That is close to the whole of it. The risk in any paper lamp is heat, an LED bulb produces very little of it compared with a filament or halogen bulb, and a folded shade holds its own shape well clear of the bulb rather than draping onto it.
Four rules cover it:
- Use an LED bulb, and only an LED bulb. Every lamp and kit we sell is rated for LED bulbs only, and we say so on each card. A filament or halogen bulb in a paper shade is the one combination to avoid. LED bulbs built in the old filament shape are a different thing and are fine: the visible strands are LEDs, and they run as cool as any other LED.
- Stay at or under 15 watts of actual draw. We recommend a bulb that consumes 10 to 15 watts. Read the watts the bulb really uses, not the incandescent figure it says it replaces, which is several times higher.
- Let the shape hold the bulb clear. You do not measure anything. Every lamp we make is a faceted shell: flat panels meeting along folded edges, and those edges are what make it rigid. It does not sag inward onto the bulb the way a soft fabric shade can. Fit the bulb, and the geometry leaves three to five centimetres of air around it.
- Never put a flame inside. A candle in a paper shade is a different object with a different risk, and none of our lamps are designed for one.
The cutouts are ventilation as well as pattern. The openings in our shades run from about 2 to 7 mm across, and they let air pass through the paper, so the temperature inside the lamp evens out with the room instead of collecting around the bulb. The Coral series has the largest of them. We can cut holes that size because the material stays rigid with them in it, which is the same property of the paper that keeps the shell off the bulb.
Colour temperature: 2700K in the evening, 1800K to 2200K at night
Paper diffuses light, and warm light coming through paper reads warmer still. Two figures cover almost every room.
Evening light: 2700K, warm white. Close to an old incandescent bulb. This is the general setting for a child's room, a hallway or a living room, and it is where the paper looks most like paper.
Night light: 1800K to 2200K, extra warm or amber. Closer to candlelight or to the last of a sunset. There is almost no blue in this part of the spectrum, which is why it reads as night rather than as daylight. At the bottom of that range the shade takes on the look of a flame held inside it, which is the effect paper does better than glass.
Paper lamps also suit colour-changing LED bulbs. A colour-changing bulb runs through colours and brightness levels from a remote or an app, so one lamp gives a room several moods without the lamp itself changing. Diffusion is what makes it work: on a bare bulb a colour reads as a coloured bulb, and through paper the whole object glows.
Sky lanterns are not this. The floating paper lantern with an open flame, released into the air, is restricted or banned in many places. A paper lamp that hangs indoors from a cord has nothing to do with it, and searching for one often turns up rules written for the other.
How do you hang a paper lamp?
There are two routes, and which one you need depends on whether the ceiling already has a light point.
If there is a fitting in the ceiling. Our ready-made lamps clip onto any standard E27, E26 or E14 fitting in two clicks, with no tools. You take the old shade off, clip ours on, and that is the job. The shade adapts to the fitting you already have; the bulb still has to match that fitting, so buy the bulb for your ceiling rather than for the lamp.
If there is no fitting, or the lamp needs to hang somewhere else. We offer an optional cord set: a 3.4 metre cord with a socket for E27 and E26, an inline switch, a plug, a ceiling hook and a wall plug. You fix the hook where you want the lamp, run the cord to the nearest wall socket, and switch it at the cord. For customers in the US and the UK we include an adapter for the plug.
One thing to allow for. A paper pendant light cannot sit flush against the ceiling. Leave at least 20 cm of cord below it so the shade hangs clear and air can move around the bulb.
For a hanging paper lamp in a child's room, height is the other consideration: hang it where it is visible from the bed and out of reach from it. If you have not put a pendant up before, our assembly and mounting instructions go through it step by step.
How do you make a paper lamp yourself?
Two honest answers, depending on how much of the work you want.
From scratch. You need a translucent or perforated paper heavy enough to hold a shape, a pattern, a way to join the edges, and a cord set with an LED bulb. Most of the tutorials you will find online build a sphere or a cylinder, because those are the two shapes that forgive an imprecise cut.
From a kit. The cutting and the pattern are already done, which is the part that goes wrong when you improvise. Our DIY paper lamp kits ship flat with the templates pre-cut, the fold lines perforated, and every edge numbered in the order it is assembled, so you follow the numbers rather than a diagram. There is a how-to video, and a small practice piece in the box to test your glue on before you start on the lamp. Most of the shape holds itself together, so only a limited number of edges are glued. We rate the build as challenging, which is deliberate: it is an evening's work, not five minutes.
The kits are a night light for a nursery or a child's room when they are finished, and the folding is the point as much as the lamp is.
If you would rather make a paper sculpture than a lamp, our printable 3D paper art templates are a download you print at home. Those are not lamps and they do not light up.
Ready-made or a kit?
| Ready-made pendant | DIY kit | |
|---|---|---|
| Arrives | Folded, ready to hang | Flat, pre-cut, numbered |
| Material | Washable paper fabric, tear-resistant | 300gsm sturdy paper |
| Glue | None anywhere, held by interlocking tabs | A limited number of edges |
| Fitting | Clips onto E27, E26 or E14 | Designed for a standard E27 pendant cord |
| Bulb | LED only, not included | LED only, not included |
| Your evening | Hanging it | Making it |
Both are folded from flat sheets and both are designed here in Amsterdam. If you want an adult, quieter version of the same idea, the Koi fish lights are hand-painted and carry an edition number on the tag.
Every lamp and every template we sell is an original, 100% human-designed piece, with no AI at any step of the design. We are two architects, and the work goes from a hand sketch to a 3D model to a laser-cut flat pattern before anything is folded. You can read how we design and fold them, and one of the designs was an Etsy Design Awards finalist in 2022.
Questions people ask about paper lamps
Are paper lamps safe in a child's room?
Yes, with an LED bulb of 10 to 15 watts. Our lamps are rated for LED bulbs only. The shade is a faceted shell that keeps its shape, so it sits three to five centimetres clear of the bulb without you setting anything, and the cutouts let air move through it so heat does not collect inside.
Do paper lamps light up a room?
They glow. The light shows on the lamp's own surface, which is what makes a paper lamp worth looking at, and it is a softer light than a bare bulb. If you need to read by it, add a second light source.
What bulb goes in a paper lamp?
An LED bulb drawing 10 to 15 watts, in whichever of E27, E26 or E14 your ceiling fitting takes. Retro filament-shaped LED bulbs count as LED and work well in a paper shade. Bulbs are not included, so you can match the fitting you already have.
What colour temperature should a paper lamp be?
2700K for evening light, and 1800K to 2200K for a night light. The lower figure is close to candlelight and has almost no blue in it. Colour-changing LED bulbs work well in a paper shade, because the paper spreads the colour across the whole object instead of leaving it in the bulb.
How much heat does a paper lamp give off?
Very little, because it runs on an LED bulb rather than a filament one. The cutouts in the shade also work as ventilation, evening out the air inside the lamp with the air in the room.
Can a paper lamp be cleaned?
Our ready-made lamps are folded from washable paper fabric and wipe clean under water. Cardstock kits do not, so dust them dry.
How long does a DIY paper lamp take to make?
An evening, and longer if you enjoy it. We rate the build as challenging on purpose: the edges are numbered so there is no guesswork, but there are a lot of them.
Can a paper lamp sit flush to the ceiling?
No. Leave at least 20 cm of cord below the ceiling so the shade hangs clear.
Where are they made?
In the Netherlands, by hand, in small batches. Orders take one to three business days to process before shipping.