Pendant Light Cable: Textile, Coax and Wire | MOSS
In most specifications the pendant light cable is a line item rather than a design decision. It should be both. The cable is the only part of a suspended luminaire that crosses the full height between ceiling and object, and in a double-height space it is often the longest visible element of the fixture. Its diameter, surface and colour, and the way it divides its work between current and load, decide whether a composition reads as an object held in space or as a fitting on a wire.
This guide sets out how cable and suspension are built across the MOSS collections, why Emily, Dune and Charlotte each solve the problem differently, and which details an interior architect should fix at specification stage so that the installed result matches the drawing.
Why the Pendant Light Cable Is a Material Decision
A pendant cable can do three jobs. It carries current to the light source. It carries the weight of the luminaire into the ceiling. And it draws a line through the room. Some fixtures give all three jobs to one cable, others split them between a conductor and a separate suspension wire. That choice is made in the construction of the luminaire, long before a finish is selected, and it sets how much visual weight sits between the ceiling and the object.
On a single pendant over a dining table the cable is one line, and its quality is a question of detail. On a group it becomes a pattern. An Emily Group of Five shows five lines above the shades, a Group of Thirteen shows thirteen. Their spacing is fixed by the composition. Their surface, diameter and colour are fixed by the cable. At that point the cable is no longer an accessory but a component of the object, and it should be read on the elevation with the same care as the shades.
Surface matters for the same reason. A woven textile jacket has a matte, slightly structured surface that holds a straight line under its own weight. Plain PVC cable is smoother and more reflective, and under grazing light it shows every twist from the coil. Neither is wrong, but they are different materials, and a luminaire that has been resolved down to the radius of a shade edge should not be let down by the line above it.
The practical consequence for the specifier is simple: treat the cable as part of the finish schedule. Name it next to the shade finish and the canopy, confirm its colour and confirm its length. The sections below explain what that means for each collection.
Textile Covered Cable on Emily
Every Emily shade hangs on its own textile covered cable of approximately 7 mm diameter. The woven jacket sits over the insulated conductors and forms the outer surface of the line the eye follows from canopy to shade. The standard colour is Asphalt, an anthracite tone chosen to sit quietly against the lacquered steel shades, the waxed oak frames of the groups and the steel canopy.
Electrically, Emily is the most direct construction in the collection. Each shade carries a retrofit lampholder, E27 for Europe and Asia or E26 for the USA and Canada, and mains voltage runs straight from the canopy to the lampholder. There is no driver. The European build uses a three-core 0.75 mm² cable. The North American build uses an SVT 3 × AWG18 cable in a UL-listed version, together with a UL-listed lampholder. Both carry the same woven surface, so a scheme specified in Europe and repeated in North America looks the same from the floor.
The textile cable also carries the weight of the shade, so on Emily it is conductor and suspension in one. This is why the Emily line stays so clean: there is one element between ceiling and shade, not two running side by side.
In the groups each shade has its own cable, and the resulting field of lines is part of the composition. The Emily Group of Seven hangs from two canopies. In the vertical models the cables are staggered to build the cascade. On an Emily V10, for example, the individual cables run from approximately 205 to 380 cm. These vertical compositions are where the cable is most visible, and where its matte surface earns its place.
Coaxial Cable and Suspension Wire on Dune
Dune separates the three jobs. It is a modular luminaire built from formed aluminium shades joined by CNC-machined aluminium connectors, and each connector holds two LEDs. The system runs at safety extra-low voltage. Mains power enters the canopy, where the driver sits, and from there a thin coaxial cable carries the low-voltage current down to the chain of shades. The weight is carried separately, by steel wire rope of 0.8 mm diameter.
The result is a line close to disappearing. The coaxial cable is approximately 3 mm in diameter, and the suspension wire is finer still. Dune has no textile cable by design: the object is the chain of shades, and the construction keeps the lines above it as light as the system allows.
Within the luminaire the same coaxial cable links shade to shade. Curve, Spiral and Vertical Line configurations use 50 cm lengths between shades, Cluster and Vertical Cluster use 25 cm, which is why the clusters read as compact volumes and the curves as open lines. The feed cable from the canopy is 300 cm as standard.
The canopy on Dune is always a suspension point. It contains the fixing for a suspension wire, so it cannot sit freely between the suspension points of the luminaire, but it can be moved to any of them. Where a junction box is fixed or the outlet is central, the canopy goes to one of the central points. Curve, Cluster and Spiral configurations use further ceiling fixings for their other wires, while the Dune 10 Vertical Cluster and the Vertical Line hang from the canopy alone. Dune 16 and Dune 20 are built as two chains and hang from two canopies.
One project condition deserves an early mention. Where a brief requires low smoke zero halogen (LSOH) cable, as airports and some public buildings do, that cable is noticeably stiffer than the standard coaxial cable. The construction can be adapted, with more slack at the connections, a more flexible LSOH type or additional strain relief, but the requirement has to be known when the order is placed.
Pendant Cable Length and Hanging Height
The standard pendant cable length is 300 cm (118") on the Emily single pendants and all Emily groups, on the Dune feed cable and on Charlotte. Emily V10 and V12 are supplied with 400 cm (157"). The binding figure for each model is on its spec sheet, and that is the number to put in the specification.
The rule that governs every site is that cables can be shortened, not lengthened. The electrician sets the final drop by cutting the cable to length. For that reason the drop should be specified from the finished ceiling, not the structural soffit, with the build-up of any suspended ceiling, acoustic layer or timber lining accounted for. A requirement above the standard length is no obstacle, but it has to be ordered: longer cables are supplied to order as a separate line item and should be confirmed with the order rather than solved on site.
Before asking for longer cables, check the standard overall height of the model. An Emily V8 has a standard overall height of 330 cm, so a requirement below that is covered by the standard cables and needs no change. The same check avoids unnecessary extensions on other vertical compositions.
Cable length is a maximum, not a minimum. The shortest possible drop follows from the construction of the luminaire. On an Emily Group of Five the minimum is approximately 90 cm from the canopy to the underside of the shades; above that, the height is set freely by shortening the cables. Where a composition is staggered, as on an Emily Group of Seven with shades at different heights, the electrician sets each drop on site in the same way. The drawing should therefore give a drop per shade, measured from the finished ceiling, rather than a single overall height.
Charlotte, Canopies and a Specification Checklist
Charlotte takes a third approach. Its frame is solid brass, and the frame itself carries the current to the four quartz glass tubes, so there is no visible wiring within the luminaire. The suspension above it is 300 cm as standard, and the linear canopy, 1020 mm long, sets the line of the fixture on the ceiling. Here the cable has one quiet role: to hold a precise horizontal object level at the specified height.
In all three collections the cable meets the building at the canopy, and the canopy is where most coordination questions start. Diameters, single and double canopies and ceiling build-ups are covered in the pendant light canopy guide, which should be read together with this one.
For the specification itself, a short list covers almost every case. Name the model and the market, Europe or North America, because cable, lampholder and driver follow from it. Confirm the cable colour on Emily, Asphalt as standard. Give the drop per shade from the finished ceiling. Mark the ceiling outlet and, on Dune, the suspension points. State any LSOH or other cable requirement from the project brief. Confirm any cable length above standard with the order.
A cable specified this way arrives ready to be cut once, to the right length, and the line it draws in the room is the one that was drawn on the elevation.
Cable lengths, canopy dimensions and spec sheets for each model are listed on the product pages in the MOSS collection, for example the Emily V8, and in the Dune pendant light guide.
To confirm cable lengths, colours or project-specific cable requirements before the electrical layout is fixed, contact MOSS Objects directly.
