This is a project that demonstrates two of the real benefits that fibre optic lighting can offer – the ability to seal the lighting in during construction with no worries about access to replace failed bulbs/LEDs, and the ability to have safe, electricity-free illumination in a wet area.

Our customer DH wanted to introduce some light into the shower enclosure, but there were aspects of the existing ceiling construction that made him relucant to try to install lighting in the ceiling. So, instead, he opted for this very simple yet elegant design, putting a single horizontal row of glass blocks high in the wall.

A single short row of blocks such as this would only use a fraction of the available capacity of the light source, so there’s no reason why the same light source could not also provide illumination to another lighting scheme in an adjacent bedroom or hallway. The only limiting factor in such a dual installation is that both schemes would normally display the same colour, although with careful arrangement of the fibres in the harness termination it is possible to display two different colours simultaneously.

One very neat tiling job later, and the stylish innovative shower lighting is finished. The principle could hardly be any simpler, yet the finished effect is quietly sophisticated. See also Customer Project 13 for a variation on this same theme.