I have never owned a dog ornament in my life. This is a letter about the one I now switch on every evening
Five things a glass animal lamp gets right that no ornament ever has, from a woman who spent sixty-seven years politely avoiding china dogs.
Margaret Thornton, customer, Harrogate. 5 minute read
I am 67, I have shared my home with dogs for most of my life, and I have never once owned a dog ornament. I was rather proud of that. Dog ornaments, in my experience, are what people give you when they cannot think of anything else, and they end up at the back of a cabinet gathering dust and guilt. So when my daughter-in-law gave me a little glass dog for my birthday, I smiled, said thank you, and privately began planning where to hide it. That was in March. It has been switched on every evening since. So this is not a review. It is a woman who was wrong about a dog ornament, saying so.
The one I am writing about is called the Delight of Companionship, from Vellunee Cambridge, a small British family business, run by Sarah, that makes handcrafted homeware and accessories. When Sarah later asked whether they could share my letter, I said yes, on the condition I could be completely honest in it.
A little lamp in the shape of a shaggy dog, made of pieces of coloured glass like a church window, that glows from the inside when you switch it on. On a woman who does not do ornaments. Read on.
Here is what a lifetime of being given ornaments taught me. They come in two sorts. The ones you like for a week, then stop seeing altogether. And the ones you never liked in the first place, which stay out only for as long as the person who gave them is in the room. Either way, they sit there doing nothing, and you dust round them.
An ornament just sits there. This one comes on at dusk, and the whole room changes.
This is the first one I have owned that earns its place, and after seven months of switching it on, moving it about and watching visitors stop in front of it, I can tell you it comes down to five things.
The day it came, straight out of the box on the kitchen table. Even switched off, I had to admit it was rather lovely.
It looks like your own dog
This is the part that undid me. It is not just a dog, it is a proper little shaggy terrier, with the fringe falling over the eyes, the ears hanging down and the black button nose, and it is the absolute spit of Pippin, who is asleep on my feet as I write this. I put it on the side table next to my armchair, and Pippin climbed onto my lap to stare at it. I took that as approval. They do it in all sorts of breeds and animals, so whoever you have at home, there is a fair chance there is one that looks like them.
Evenings in my armchair: Pippin on my lap, his glass double on the side table. He has decided it is no threat.
My husband walked in, said hello to it, and then realised our Bertie was asleep in the kitchen.
Jean B., DoncasterThe glow at the end of the day
Switch it on and every piece of glass lights up from the inside, amber, blue, green and red, and throws little patches of colour across the table and up the wall. On a grey November evening at half past four, it is the nicest thing in the house. I switch it on when I draw the curtains, and it has become the moment the day winds down.
Up close, lit. Every little piece of glass is its own colour.
It throws colours all over the ceiling at night. My granddaughter calls it the rainbow dog.
Gillian F., HalifaxIt goes anywhere, wire or no wire
It stands about 25 centimetres tall, so it fits on a windowsill, a sideboard or a bedside table without taking over. And it runs either on batteries or plugged in, which means it goes where it looks best rather than where the socket happens to be. Mine lives in the front window in the evenings, then comes up to the landing at bedtime as a night light, which has made the trip to the bathroom at three in the morning a great deal more cheerful.
No wires, so it sits on the windowsill where I wanted it. Batteries last ages.
Susan H., RiponEverybody who sees it comments
I have lived on my road for twenty-two years, and I am now, apparently, the house with the glowing dog in the window. The postman mentioned it. Two neighbours I had only ever nodded to stopped to ask where it was from. And every visitor who comes through the door stops in front of it before they have even taken their coat off. No ornament of mine has ever started a conversation before.
The lady across the road knocked to ask where I'd got it. We've been for coffee twice since.
Brenda W., PontefractThe easiest present I have ever bought
There are all sorts of animals in the collection, dogs of every kind, cats, owls and plenty more besides, so you are not buying someone a lamp. You are buying them their own animal in glass. I have bought two since mine: an owl for my sister, who has collected owls since the seventies, and a cat for my friend from the book group, who has never forgiven me for preferring dogs. Both were unwrapped with the same little gasp.
Mine, my sister's owl and the book group cat, before they went off to their new homes.
Bought one that looks like Mum's old collie, the year after we lost him. She keeps it lit in the window every night.
Kathleen D., KeighleyThis lamp, against the ornaments you have been given
Everybody has a shelf of ornaments they did not choose and do not look at. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
An ornament that just sits and gathers dust
A plain lamp that only gives light
Stuck wherever the socket is
Looks like a dog, not like your dog
Forgotten on the shelf within a month
Coloured glass that glows every evening
A lamp and an ornament in one
Battery or plug-in, so it goes anywhere
Shaped and coloured like a real animal
Switched on every night, and talked about
About the price
The lamp is £39.95 at the moment, down from £199.95.
I will pass on what Sarah told me, which is that they are closing down, and once an animal sells out it will not be made again. Their words, not mine. What I can tell you from my side is that for something I switch on every single evening, it is the best money I have spent on the house in years.
And I do not trust perfect scores, so I read the reviews before ordering one for my sister. Over 300 of them, sitting at 4.2 stars. That sounded like real people rather than robots, so I kept reading. The same five things I have just walked you through came up again and again, in other women's words.
Half past four on a Tuesday in November. Curtains drawn, kettle on, dog on.
If you have a windowsill that could do with some colour, a birthday coming up, or an animal of your own you would happily see in glass, this is the one I would put in your hands myself, while your animal is still there. Stop dithering and go and have a look.
Margaret
DELIGHT OF COMPANIONSHIP | ANIMAL LAMP
- Coloured glass that glows from the inside
- Shaped and coloured like a real animal
- Runs on batteries or plugs in
- About 25 cm tall: windowsill, sideboard or bedside
- Lovely as a night light on the landing
- Many animals to choose from
- A present that shows you know them
- Free UK delivery
Closing-down sale. Once an animal sells out, it won't be made again.