By using rawhide lamp shades, young artists and designers are discovering what has traditionally been the icon of rustic lighting, lamps and décor. Moving out of the lodges and into the living rooms of America, rustic lamps with rawhide lampshades are making a rustic statement in every part of the county. It seems to be a way to bring a part of the past into the present. Many home decorators are creating southwest rooms or western theme rooms in dens family rooms, even bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens.
Rawhide shades have been in vogue since about the 1930’s when they started to be seen in use by high priced professional designers, but to those of us who have been around for a while or studied the phenomenon, rawhide lamp shades have always been and still are symbols of rich warm rustic chic decorating, even before the term was used by the mainstream designers.
When you think of the southwest style so popular today or the super hot western designs being used by contemporary artists, rawhide is usually a part because it is so tough and primitive yet beautiful. Because rawhide lamp shades are so versatile in style and color they are becoming even more popular all the time and it is becoming very easy to find a size for any lamp without custom creation. After all, you can’t get much more rustic than stretched rawhide animal skin lampshades.
The same rawhide that helped win the west is now synonymous with western decorating. Rawhide is so strong that it was used in primitive construction for such things as door hinges and tool heads. If you have ever given man’s best friend a rawhide chew toy you know how tough they are. It’s amazing that this same rawhide material can be stretched shin enough to be used as it was in by gone days to cover a window opening to seal it yet let light through or as now for beautiful thin rawhide lamp shades with all of its charm and character. Rawhide lamp shades have become the signature look for antler lamps and chandeliers and a vital part of the cultures of cowboy, Native American, ranch and cabin, not to mention log homes.
Rawhide lamp shades are also now available in popular dyed colors such as ruby red, hunter green and caramel as well as the light southwestern and dark western rawhide shades that have lead the way in this modern rustic revival. For the best in decorative lamp shades and rustic home furnishings and lighting try rawhide replacement shades and see for yourself why so many designers and home owners love the look and feel of genuine hand stitched rawhide lamp shades.
