Serge Mouille Lighting - General Information
Made in France
All lamps are manufactured in France using the same forms designed by Serge Mouille himself. The family has kept the same tradition of quality in these re-editions as were evident in the original lamps produced in the 1950s. Each lamp arrives numbered and with a Certificate of Authenticity signed by a member of the family.
Ball and Socket Joints
All shades are mounted with a brass ball and socket joint which allows them to swivel. They do not come in other materials.
"There is a reason he chose brass over chrome for the swivel", says Serge's wife, Gin. "He did not like gold."
Although the deep brown of bronze was preferred, it would have been too heavy and costly. Since Serge knew that brass would quickly tarnish to a brown, bronze finish when exposed to oxidation, he chose brass hardware fittings.
The true beauty and vision of Mouille's design is realized when the brass tarnishes. Be patient. The process can take one to three years. You may accelerate the transformation by touching the brass with your fingers once or twice a week.
Shade Rotation
All shades rotate almost a full turn around the axis of the arm on which they are attached. They can face the ground as a reading light, the ceiling for general lighting or even the walls as a spotlight for a painting.
The lamp shades swivel (or pivot) about 25° in all directions. This is particularly useful in titling the shade to hide the bulbs even more from the eyes.
Bulbs
The required bulbs are included in the delivery of the lamps. Please make note of the bulbs supplied for when replacements are needed.
We recommend clear bulbs in order to hide the light source better - not white or soft white bulbs. A white bulb's light is more visible at its edges than the clear bulb's source which is visible at the filament. With Mouille lamps this makes all the difference.
We also recommend SATCO bulbs as they come in shorter sizes at 40 and 60 watts. If not ventilated properly, higher wattage bulbs may cause the white enamel to overheat and discolor over the years.
Color
The lamps are painted in either white or black. The mat or satin finish originally chosen by Serge Mouille is respected in these re-editions. As such, powder coating is not used on the lamps. While more resistant, powder coating is also much thicker. This would adversely affect the finesse and elegance inherent in a Mouille lamp. As with any investment, special care is needed especially during installation.
The inside of the shades is always painted in glossy white for a better light reflection.
Brass screws
We like to call them "stoppers". If their primary function is to attach an arm to the body of the lamp, their secondary function is to prevent those arms from rotating too far thus hitting another shade (as in ceiling lamps) or the wall (as with rotating sconces).
Dimensions and Custom Options
By ARM LENGTH, we mean OVERALL DIMENSION included the SHADE. The shades themselves are either 10 or 11 inches long.
Lamps that can be customized:- All rotating sconces
Please specify arm lengths as distance from vertical axis to tip of shade. The height of the lamp is the distance from the upper arm to lower arm(s) - All Spider sconces
Please specify arm lengths as the distance from center of sphere to tip of shade - Ceiling lamps 3 and 6 arms
Please specify arm lengths as the distance from center of drop to tip of shade. The drop of the lamp is from ceiling to bottom of the curve where the arm begins. - Library and Escargot ceiling lamps
Please specify the drop length as being from the ceiling to the tip of shade. - All desk lamps
Please specify whether cord or shade switch for Cocotte and Tripod - All small sconces
Please specify whether cord or shade switch for Eye, Flame and Conche.
- All floor lamps
Sorry but there is no option for a switch on the shade of the floor lamps. These 2 lamps cannot be customized.
UL Listing
The lamps are not UL listed. However the lamps are produced in accordance with the American standards. We even use American hardware such as wire and bulb sockets. UL listing is an expensive technicality and the Mouille production is studying the proposition at this time.
