My bad, I’ve never done a story about Moon Shine Lamp & Shade. I think it was because I thought, “Everyone knows about them.” Well, in case you don’t, Moonshine is one of two key places to go to get custom-made, fiberglass lamp shades in true vintage atomic style. If you have a lamp base or a pair that need shades — and only a fiberglass beauty will do — and you can’t find vintage — now you know where to turn. D’Lana Arthur and her husband James (the cuties at the right) have been making the shades since 1998. Over that time, they’ve surely “done it all” — and D’Lana is trained in interior design — so they can recommend a design to make your pretty lamps truly stunning.
2021 Update: The Moon Shine Shade website is now gone. Not sure what happened. For another company that does shades like these, try Modilumi.
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D’Lana writes:
We started in 1998 in Memphis, TN. I went to school for interior design but was working as a bartender when a friend mentioned he was selling left over stock from making reproduction vintage lamp shades for his vintage furniture store to replace missing shades on vintage lamps he had found. My husband, James, is a musician. We decided to buy the materials and started building a business. At that time, there were about six styles and four different patterns to choose from. We had a friend build a website for us and started going to trade shows. We started with gift shows and gradually moved to design shows.
We do crazy projects almost weekly. The way we expand our knowledge is by accepting nearly ANY design and rising to the challenge. We have done 8 ft diameter shades, 8 ft tall shades, ones made entirely of ribbon, a steel laser cut shade of the Houston skyline, wood veneer shades, aluminum mesh shades, 3 ft cubes…we can make lamp shades out of almost any material. We do custom printing on shades as well.
We are very busy and have remained steady through the trying economy.
Thank you, D’Lana, for sharing all these photos. It’s great to hear success stories like yours of entrepreneurs in the mid mod space — taking a chance, focusing on quality and craftsmanship, and in reality, creating their own markets. Good on you!
Where to buy: Moon Shine Lamp & Shade
I also want to note that in addition to being pretty snappy, fiberglass shades can be better for the environment in that: They generally are quite translucent and let a lot of light show through. If you want to save on electricity, make sure your lamp shades are made of materials with a lot of translucency. Many decorative shades — I have some myself — look pretty, but in reality block out the full effect of the bulb. Which means I have to turn on more lights elsewhere. Remember how, in way back olden days, they put clear glass over their hurricane lamps — because they wanted to maximize the available, costly light? Duh.
Lee in Florida says
I have one… just looking for the perfect lamp, now.
jenny says
WOW those are gorgeous.
Linda Emery says
Absolutely fabulous! Thank you for the story & pictures!
Charlotte says
These are great! I am of the opinion that lamps should be completely crazy-looking.
Eartha Kitsch says
We bought one of their shades a few years ago – not a custom job but a stock pattern – and it’s really great quality. I’d highly recommend them. Great product and great customer service.
Jason says
I bought apair of two tier lamp shades fromMoonshine a couple of years ago. They cam out great and look great stitting on my 1959 Lane end tables next to my reupholstered blue late 1950’s Krohler 3pc sectional sofa. Although they were $93 each, it was worth it and I am very happy with them.
nickarmadillo says
Saving this link! Fiberglass lampshades are so hard to come by.
Jeanne says
Talk about timing! I just found a Danish Modern white/walnut tall table lamp at a local thrift shop (for $10!) that had a totally wrong shade on it (I think they just threw on whatever they had so it had a shade). I found something yesterday at Target that will work for now, but would totally love to have something more appropriate and I’m sure I could find something at Moon Shine. *lampshade love*
Marta says
Wow! Just stunning.
John aka AtomicHipster says
Hi Pam, thanks for posting Moonshine, I had forgotten about them. Their shades are FABULOUS to say the least!!! It’s wonderful to see people dedicated to quality and workmanship rather than chasing the buck with cheapness.
John