General Information

What is Social Light's mission and what services do you offer?

With decades of experience in the lighting industry we are passionate about great product and great lighting solutions. At Social Light, we are dedicated to delivering exceptional design, showcasing premium lighting brands from around the world. Since our founding, we’ve built a strong reputation with interior designers, architects, and design enthusiasts who rely on us to enhance their spaces with beauty and illumination.

Where is Social Light located and where can I see your lights?

Our office and workshop for our linear lights is based in Cambridge, New Zealand but we don’t have a showroom here. We do have a showroom at Residium Design Centre, Parnell, Auckland where we showcase a limited selection of our lights.

What are your showroom hours, and do I need an appointment to visit?

Our showroom at Residium is conveniently open 7 days, 9-5 on weekdays, 10-5 on Saturdays and 10-4 on Sundays. The Residium Design Centre is a great place to visit if you are building or renovating, with dozens of suppliers on display. We generally try and work from our Residium showroom one day a week, often (but not always) on a Thursday. If you would like to talk to us in person please contact us and we can book an appointment. Our workshop and office is located in Cambridge. We don’t have a showroom as such here but you are welcome to book an appointment if you need to talk to us and we do have the odd sample laying around.

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Product Information

What types of lighting products do you offer?

We specialise in designer lighting from great brands from around the world. This includes pendants, wall lights, outdoor lights and modern chandeliers. Whilst all our lights are functional as well as designer pieces we don’t tend to focus on the purely functional lights such as recessed downlights or LED strip lighting. We excel at the pretty stuff!

Do you provide custom lighting solutions?

We manufacture custom-sized L.I.M. linear lights in our Cambridge workshop and can work with designers and architects to create a unique piece. This means we can size a light to fit your space which means you don’t have to compromise.

Which brands do you carry, and are there exclusive collections available?

We have great relationships with many local and overseas brands. You can see the brands we stock on our homepage but we have exclusive arrangements with Capsuhl and Ebb& Flow. We have also worked with clients to import special, one-off pieces, making sure all technical and regulatory requirements are taken care of.

Can you help me choose light for my space?

We are always happy to help but we try and stick with where our expertise lies. We know our range and can recommend individual products or alternatives from a wide range of suppliers. Kat has a design background and Phil is an electrician so we are comfortable providing general advice around these areas too. We love to help!

What about Lighting Plans?

We believe that if you are spending huge amounts of money on building or renovating, tradies, architects and designers you should invest in a professional Lighting Plan. You don’t want to end up with too little light in your stairwell and too much in your lounge and gone are the days when you have your electrician drill four hundred holes in your ceiling and install downlights. We leave this to the experts. In our opinion that is Renee at RAD design who gives a fantastic independent service and will get you a great result. Give her your house plans so you don’t need to learn about lumens, CRI and Kelvins and don’t regret not learning your lumens, CRIs and Kelvins.

What are Lumens, CRIs and Kelvins?

Boring but important technical stuff that affects how light interacts with your space. The rise of LED lighting has been amazing for our industry in the last decade or so. They are more efficient than previous technology and use a fraction of the power to produce the same light output. That's Lumens per Watt. LED lights are not all created equal though. Basically, they come as cheap, bad quality and slightly more expensive, good quality. This is not only about longevity but how they render colour, which is what the Colour Rendering Index or CRI will indicate. A good quality LED has a CRI of greater than 90 and these days there is no need to accept lower. CRI is how well a light will show the actual colours of the physical items it is shining on but don’t get it confused with Kelvins or warmth of light. Generally, what we want in our homes is a light that mimics the sun but that can vary between 5000K (Cool White) at midday to lower than 2000K (Warm White) at dusk.
Check out this blog post to learn more.

Do you offer energy-efficient or sustainable lighting options?

Yes, all our lighting solutions are LED ensuring energy efficiency, longevity, and lower power consumption compared to traditional lighting.

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Ordering and Shipping

How can I place an order?

You can place an order directly through our online shop or if you need help with anything we are more than happy to help in person by contacting us via email or phone.

What is the estimated delivery time for my order?

Good question. Because we work with suppliers from all over the world our delivery times can vary massively. Some of our brands such as Il Fanale will get to work in their factory in Italy and craft your light only once it has been ordered. This takes time, let alone getting it from Italy to little ol’ NZ. We try and give you as much information on the product pages as we can but please ask us if you need more info. To be honest, it is the downside to the amazing brands we work with. As long as you have the time to wait for it.

Do I have to pay up front for a light that may take six weeks to arrive?

We realise that it is not ideal to part with a sum of money and not have anything to show for it, which is why on any purchase that will take more than a week to arrive and is over $500 in value, we ask for a 50% deposit. You then pay the remainder when it arrives with us before it is shipped to you. Unfortunately, we can't process this automatically through our website so get in touch with us and we will manually invoice you.

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Returns and Exchanges

What is your return and exchange policy? 

Please choose very carefully because most of our products are either made or sourced when you order them and we cannot take returns or exchanges on the majority of our sales. If you are not sure about ordering a product from us, please talk to us first. Obviously, if there are any faults or mistakes from our end we will do whatever we can to fix it.

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Warranty and Support

Do your products come with a warranty? 

Yes, we offer a 2-year warranty on all our lighting products against manufacturing defects. Many of our suppliers will offer a longer warranty and even if you have a fault and think your light is out of warranty please let us know as most of the time we can fix it or replace it anyway.

Do you offer installation services or recommendations for installers?

Sorry, we don’t. We try to stick to our knitting and we work with many great Electricians around the country. We can’t play favourites.

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Trade Accounts

Do you offer trade accounts for designers, architects, or contractors? 

We offer Trade Cash Accounts which include exclusive trade pricing and benefits for industry professionals.

Please contact us to see if you are eligible and we will give you one on one support and a website login to see your pricing.

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Anything else?

We genuinely want to do our best for all our customers so please let us know if we can help in any way.