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Our Heritage
David Hunt Lighting is a true British heritage brand with a provenance of over 300 years. Discover our historic beginnings and how we have developed up to the present day.
2023
Launch of our newly renovated larger showroom at The Design Centre Chelsea Harbour
2022
The English Home New Year’s Honours List nominee: Gingko table lamp
2021
Awards
- Featured in the Financial Times ‘Light Fantastic’ feature: Liberty pendant
- LivingEtc Style Awards 2021 nominee: Hyde pendant
2019
Launch of our first London showroom at The Design Centre Chelsea Harbour
2018
Awards
- The English Home New Year’s Honours List winner: Lighting category
- The International Design & Architecture Awards shortlist: Hyde pendant
2017
Awards
- The International Design & Architecture Awards shortlist: Sputnik pendant
- LUX Global Excellence Awards nominee: Hyde Pendant
2016
The English Home editor’s choice award winner: Sputnik table lamp
2011
Decorex Awards: Nominee for Best British manufacturer
2000
A Timeless British BrandAt the dawn of the millennium, David Hunt Lighting became part of the där lighting group. Over the past two decades the company has worked tirelessly to build an exclusive partner network comprising Britain’s finest lighting showrooms, offering a range of bespoke services for interior designers, architects and consumers alike.
1980
A Victorian RevivalThe 1980s saw a return to more traditional British interiors – a crucial point in our company history. John Peter Hunt, the tenth generation of our namesake, began to rescue Victorian gas light designs from the company archives. Adapted to twentieth century manufacturing techniques and electrical standards, these collections anchor David Hunt Lighting to its past and have remained best-sellers for over four decades.
1960
The Spinning SixtiesThe late 1950s saw a long-awaited revival of design, manufacture and innovation. The post-war shortages of labour and raw materials were finally at an end, and a young David Hunt founded our current factory in Shipston-on-Stour, on the northern edge of the Cotswolds. Experimenting with new technologies, the company became leaders in resin casting and spun metal, creating design classics that typified this new and futuristic era.
1930
On The GridIn 1926 Britain’s patchwork of small supply networks was transformed into the National Grid; electric light was finally available to everyone. Luckily our factory, then based in Bradford Street, Birmingham had already converted its machinery to become one of the first manufacturers of electric lighting a decade prior. The Hunt family became renowned for their electric light fittings, made in the new Art Deco style and installed at the first Odeon cinemas in the 1930s, which became a key feature of the dramatic maritime-inspired lobbies.
1851
Entrepreneurs & ExhibitorsThe late 1700s brought with it the Industrial Revolution, and quiet cottage industries became futurescapes of whirring machinery. During this time, the Hunt family thrived and were selected to exhibit their products at Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition under the glass domes of Crystal Palace in 1851. Quick to adapt to new technologies, the company pivoted from candlesticks to outdoor gas lamps, lighting the streets of nineteenth century Britain. They also became leaders in electroplating by the 1890s.
1687
Ten Generations: Two TraditionsThe earliest recorded member of the Hunt family was John Hunt, born in 1687 and listed as a master brass founder, making fine candlesticks during the reign of the Hanoverian dynasty. Throughout the last three centuries, ten generations of the Hunt family have adapted to a rapidly modernising world, but two traditions have remained a constant: the eldest son of each generation has been named John and all have manufactured fine lighting.