As Original BTC celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, in 2020, we are proud to mark the occasion with the launch of a special edition: the Hector 30. 

One of our founder Peter Bowles’ earliest designs, the Hector is among our most iconic lights and was the first light ever produced in bone china. Designed in the early 1990s, at a time when much of the lighting industry was turning to synthetic materials and mass production, Peter set out with a different agenda for the brand, one rooted in craftsmanship, material integrity and British manufacturing.

From the very beginning, the Hector embodied those principles, which continue to define Original BTC today. Until now, the Hector has been available exclusively in polished chrome with a sand-coloured cable, a combination that has become instantly recognisable.

Material integrity was central to the brand’s thinking from the outset. In that early 1990s context, when plastic components were widely accepted as standard, Peter was dissatisfied with the finish of conventional plastic lighting flex. He replaced it with woven cotton braid, famously snipped from the family iron. That cotton braided cable has since become one of our most distinctive and enduring signatures.

“With a family history steeped in manufacturing and design, exploring new ways with traditional materials and skills has long been my passion,” explains Peter.

To celebrate 30 years of Original BTC this year, the Hector has been thoughtfully reinterpreted as the Hector 30. The design is elevated with a satin brass stem and paired with either a black or grey cotton braided cable, offering a richer, more contemporary expression while remaining true to its original silhouette, while the original chrome version remains part of the collection. 

Like every Hector, the anniversary edition is handcrafted in our Stoke-on-Trent factory, where the original prototype was first produced. Using techniques unchanged for three decades, the bone china shades and bases are slip-cast by hand, carefully sponged smooth and kiln-fired. Each light passes through the hands of ten skilled craftspeople over a period of six days.

“British, timeless, classic, the Hector is quite literally what Original BTC stands for,” says Director Charlie Bowles.

The Hector 30 is available as a table, floor, wall and switched wall light, launching at our Design Centre Chelsea Harbour showroom during London Design Week.