Frequently asked questions

The difference between the two is not urgency, it is the process. A made-to-order handcrafted piece is a model already designed and already industrialised: the parts exist, the finishes are the ones in its range, and the twenty-one working days are there to assemble it, wire it, test it and pack it for transport. It is not a stock item — we do not keep it ready, we make it when you order it — which is why it is called «made to order».

A bespoke handcrafted piece instead starts from your drawing or from a substantial change to a model: a load-bearing dimension changes, a structure, a material, and so the moulds, the cuts, the welds and the load test change with them. The sixty days cover putting the drawing on the table, preparing the operations and testing a one-off piece. The families that follow this route carry the EVA, OREADI, Creative Mary and Wood Tailor Club labels.

⭐ The thing that matters to whoever is specifying: both terms start from order confirmation, not from the quotation, and they do not include transport. On a site, transport is planned separately, because it depends on the destination and on the type of delivery — and on a contract supply you agree a delivery window rather than a single date, so the site does not wait for the light and the light does not wait for the site.

The body of a Lightinup light is almost always metal, and the finish is the choice that changes the result most: the same shape in brushed brass, in matt black or in distressed white is not the same light in a hotel lobby. The metal finish, the surface treatment and the ceiling rose finish are separate attributes, because on a dark ceiling a white rose shows and on a light one it does not.

For decorative pieces the materials industry does not like to work come in: marble in several varieties, wood — the Wood Tailor Club family was born this way — and fabrics, with pongé-wrapped shades, decorative trims and hand-sewn pleating. These are operations where sixty days is not bureaucracy: it is the time a person needs to do them.

On the technical side you choose the diffuser (opal PMMA or glass), the lampholder and cap, the cable length — which on a pendant above a table decides the final height — and the IP rating: IP44 where there is humidity, IP55 and the outdoor versions where there is water or dust. Asking for IP55 on a decorative fitting changes the sealing and often the diffuser too, so it has to be said before the quotation and not after.

Dimming is not an accessory to add later: it depends on how the fitting is built and on which light source goes inside it. A model with dimmable bulbs is controlled by the dimmer in the installation, and the quality of the dimming is decided by the dimmer, not by the light. A model with a remote control and an app carries the electronics on board, so it can be dimmed even where the installation has no dimmer — and it is the most frequent choice in a refurbishment, where rewiring the line would cost more than the light.

The third form adds Alexa and Google, and it earns its place when light becomes part of a scene: a «goodnight» that switches everything off, or a dining-room scene that changes with the service. ⚠️ On contract projects, though, voice assistants are rarely the right road: in a hotel the control goes through the room management system, and that speaks DALI or a building automation protocol. If the specification says DALI, the question to ask is not «is it dimmable» but «with which driver» — and the answer changes the fitting, not an option.

Light customisation is what you do on an existing model without touching the structure: the height of a pendant, the metal finish, the colour of the fabric, 2700K instead of 3000K, a two-metre cable instead of one. It costs little in time — it stays inside the twenty-one days — and it solves most cases, because almost always the problem is not the shape of the light but its relationship with the space.

True bespoke begins where the geometry changes: a diameter the model does not have, a length that calls for another load-bearing structure, a different number of lamps, a material that needs different work. There you start again from the drawing, check the weight and the fixing, choose how to wire it, and test the piece one by one: those are the sixty days.

⭐ The quickest way to find out which of the two you are in is to bring us one photograph and one measurement: a photo of the space and the floor-to-ceiling height. With those two things we can say straight away whether it is enough to change a cable length or whether it needs a project — and the second answer is not always the more expensive one, because a one-off piece done properly costs less than three attempts with a model that does not belong there.

A lighting calculation starts from three questions, in this order: what is done in that space, who looks where, and how do you move from one zone to the next. In a lobby people arrive from outside, so the level has to accompany the eye rather than assault it, and reception must be recognised without being hunted for. In a dining room attention sits on two points — the plate and the face opposite — and everything else is there to stop the room looking dark. In a bedroom two opposite needs live together: reading and resting.

This is why our work does not start from the catalogue but from the calculation: levels are set per zone, the colour temperature is made coherent across the spaces people walk through, and the colour rendering index is fixed where colour really matters. Then the fittings that sit inside those numbers are chosen — and not the other way round.

⚠️ Colour rendering is where mistakes happen most often. At a table it matters more than in a lounge: food lives in reds, browns and greens, and a cheap source puts them out — the steak turns grey and the salad looks faded. It is one of those things a client cannot explain but does feel, and it is solved at calculation stage with a line in the specification instead of in the dining room with a complaint.

The choice is not a matter of taste but of coherence along the route. Someone moving from a 3000K lobby into a 4000K corridor sees the corridor as «dirty», because the eye has just adapted to warmth: the jump is visible even to people who could not name it. Hence the practical rule: one temperature per space, and one transition only when the function of the space really changes.

The 2700K end belongs where intimacy is wanted — a suite, an evening bar, a restaurant that works at night — and brings out warm materials, wood and brass. 3000K is the reference for hospitality: warm without yellowing the whites. 4000K belongs where people read, work or inspect something — back office, kitchens, technical areas. 6000K is a cold light to be used sparingly: in a welcoming space it makes everything look like a clinic.

⭐ And on lights with an adjustable source the choice moves forward: it can be made on site, with the installation switched on, watching how the real materials behave under the real light. That is the moment when a decision taken at a desk changes — and it is right that it should.

The distinction between «customer with a VAT number» and «partner» is the thing that causes most confusion, and it is worth saying plainly. Anyone with a VAT number can buy and receive an invoice: it is a right, and it is obtained by filling in the tax details on the first order. The B2B partner price list at −40% is another matter: it is a commercial agreement, it assumes a continuing relationship, and it is activated case by case on application to the programme.

The price list exists in four versions, because the group's two companies and the two currencies are separate: euros and pounds for Lightinup Srl and for Lightinup International Limited. This has a practical consequence for anyone working across markets: the price you see depends on which of the two companies invoices you, and that is not an administrative detail — the currency, the VAT and the delivery terms all change.

For contract projects the reference programme is not B2B but the FF&E service, where the relationship is not a price list but a supply: you start from the specification, answer it line by line, and the price is the project's. Anyone arriving with a specification can use thespecification assistant, which reads the document and prepares the request without anyone retyping a list of three hundred lines.

The levels are not a discount ladder: they are different roles, and the difference lies in what you need from us. Those who resell need a margin and reliable lead times: the relationship closes on the supply. The Resident Professional is a specifier who uses our products in their own projects, and needs something else entirely — technical support, files for drawing, the certainty that the piece drawn can actually be built.

The Resident Manager looks after an area: they are the local point of reference for clients in that region, follow sites in person and answer for the relationships of the territory. It is the role with the most active partners, and that is why the local partners page is the quickest way for a client to find someone near their site.

⭐ Anyone wanting to know which role resembles them can settle it with one question: «do I sell a product or accompany a project?». If you sell, the road is reselling and the partner price list; if you accompany, it is the Resident roles, where technical support and presence on the ground are what count. The two roads do not exclude each other, but they start from different needs and it is worth saying which in the application, because it changes who answers you.

Track systems are the part of the range where the combinations are many and the incompatibilities are real: a 48 V magnetic track and a 230 V three-circuit track are not the same thing and do not accept the same fittings. The 3D configurator — which is the MakeYourLight platform — prevents combinations that do not stand up, and that is the main reason to use it: not the rendering, but the fact that it will not let you draw a system that cannot be installed.

The result is a saved configuration, with its own identifier: from there come the parts list, the price and the quotation request. If you then change your mind about the space, the configuration reopens and is edited, instead of starting again from a blank sheet.

⚠️ One honest warning: the configurator composes thesystem, not the lighting design. It decides how many fittings fit on three metres of track and what they cost; it does not say whether those fittings make the light that room needs. That question has another tool, and it is the calculation.

The difference lies entirely in what sits behind it. An image generator produces a plausible light: beautiful, and often impossible — a cable holding a weight it could not hold, a diameter that would not fit through any door, a light source that does not exist commercially. Lumina Forge starts from our range, our operations and the real constraints of materials, so what it proposes is something we can actually put into production.

For whoever is designing, this changes the moment a decision is taken. The proposal arrives early — before a technical office has been involved — and it is there to rule out more than to choose: you see three roads, two are eliminated in five minutes, and the third gets serious work. It is the opposite of the render that arrives at the end of a project, when changing costs.

Alongside it sits the Live Advisor, which answers on the range and on the real lead times while you are looking at the site, and in FF&E specification mode reads a specification and prepares the request line by line. They are two tools of ours, not two services we resell: the difference shows when you ask them for a delivery time and they answer with the real one from the product page.

A specification is not «priced»: it is read. The first lines to check are the ones that change the fitting and not just its cost: the control protocol (if it says DALI, that driver is needed), the IP rating in wet areas, thecolour rendering index in dining areas, and the levels per zone. When a line asks for something the specified fitting does not do, the right answer is not to ignore it: it is to propose the alternative and write down why.

⛔ The mistake we see most often in the documents that reach us is an internal contradiction: one line names a 48 V magnetic track and another, in the same document, asks for a three-circuit one. They are different systems and they do not go together. Flagging it before the offer is part of the job — and it is often the first point at which the specifier realises we are actually reading.

In practice, hospitality supplies ask for three things a catalogue order does not: a delivery window coordinated with the site, sampling before series production, and the certainty that the pieces all arrive together. The quotation is built on that, which is why the sixty-day production time has to be read together with the site programme, not on its own.

There is no minimum order: the catalogue is open to anyone, and the same product that ends up in a hotel can be bought for a home. The difference between the two cases is not the list price but the service: on a single order the route is the online shop's, on a supply there are samples, coordinated lead times and technical documentation.

The active payment methods are bank transfer in euros (or in pounds on the British site), the Mollie methods — which cover cards, digital wallets and European local payment systems — and cash on delivery on the Italian site. For contract orders and for partners, payment is agreed in the quotation, because on a supply with several deliveries a single transaction makes no sense.

On delivery: we ship across Europe and the United Kingdom and to the rest of the world by express courier, and the cost is calculated in the basket from destination and weight. ⭐ And you can collect in person, at the Padua location, by choosing «Collection» among the methods: no shipping to pay, and for a delicate piece it is also the safest way.

The three routes are separate because they do different things. The right of withdrawal covers a change of mind about a purchase, and its terms and conditions are in the general terms of sale. A warranty claim covers a fault or damage, and asks for photographs and an order number so it can start immediately. Administrative requests are about documents: invoices, tax details, duplicates.

All three are opened from this page, and they reach support directly instead of landing in a general inbox. If you would rather speak to someone, you can book a call.

⚠️ One note worth reading before ordering a customised piece: a product made to measure for you — your dimension, a requested finish, your drawing — follows different rules from a catalogue item, because it cannot be put back on sale. The exact conditions are in the general terms, and if you have a doubt it is worth asking before confirmation: that is the moment when an answer changes a decision.

The difference between manufacturing and reselling shows in three concrete places. The first is bespoke: a reseller can order a variant, a manufacturer can draw one — and the sixty days of our bespoke work are the time of real manufacturing, not of procurement. The second is technical responsibility: on a specification we answer for the choices, because we make them. The third is repairability: a piece we built ourselves we know how to put right even years later.

The group works through two companies: Lightinup Srl for the Italian and European market and Lightinup International Limited for the United Kingdom, each with its own currency, invoicing and terms. This is not a formal complication: it is what allows a British client to buy in pounds with a local invoice, and a European specifier to have a counterpart in their own currency.

Alongside manufacturing sit the services that come from being a manufacturer: lighting design consultancy, operating lease for those who would rather not tie up capital, andpublic lighting. They are different roads for the same trade: getting the right light where it is needed.