How large chandeliers are packed, shipped and installed

A three-metre fixture is not a big parcel. It is a structure that has to survive a container, a crane and an electrician. What to agree before production starts.

Large decorative lighting fails far more often in logistics than in manufacture. The fixture can be perfect in the workshop and arrive unusable, or arrive perfectly and be impossible to hang. Almost all of that is decided before production, in four conversations.

Conversation 1: how it is split

Any fixture that will not fit through the narrowest point of the route must be built in sections. The split is a design decision, and the right place to split is where a joint will not be visible from the normal viewing position. On a multi-tier piece, that usually means splitting between tiers rather than across a tier.

Ask for the module count and the size of the largest module before approving the drawing. If the largest module will not pass a doorway or fit a lift, the design needs to change while it is still a drawing.

Conversation 2: how it is packed

What good export packing looks like on decorative lighting:

• Frame components separated and wrapped individually, not bundled loose
• Glass and crystal in double-boxed inner cartons with separators, never loose in a crate
• Anti-shock foam blocking so components cannot move inside the crate
• Reinforced crates for large frames, with the base rated for the load
• Every component labelled with a number that appears on the installation drawing
• A packing list per crate, and a crate list per container

Ask for photographs of the packed crates before the container is sealed. This is a five-minute request that prevents an unwinnable argument three weeks later.

Conversation 3: who is responsible at the destination

Decide and document: who clears customs, who pays duty, who arranges inland transport from the port to site, and who unloads. On project orders, unloading a two-tonne crate is a real problem if nobody has arranged a forklift. Write it into the order confirmation rather than assuming it is obvious.

Conversation 4: how it is installed

What a customer should receive with a large fixture:

• A rigging drawing showing fixing point positions relative to the ceiling
• The load per fixing point, so a structural engineer can approve it
• A wiring diagram, including driver locations and control wiring if dimmable
• Component numbering matched to the physical labels on the crates
• Assembly sequence — what is built on the ground and what is added in the air
• A 1:1 or dimensioned layout drawing for the ceiling anchor points

With those documents, a competent local contractor or general electrician can install the piece without specialist help. Remote guidance by video call covers the last 10% of uncertainty.

Damage in transit: what to do on delivery

1. Photograph the crates before opening anything, especially any visible external damage.
2. Open with the delivery driver present if damage is visible.
3. Photograph damaged components in place before removing them.
4. Note the damage on the delivery document before signing, or sign as “unchecked” where the carrier permits it.
5. Send the photographs to the supplier the same day.

A supplier who will not replace transit damage under these conditions is telling you something about how the next order will go. Confirm the policy before ordering: replaceable parts, at whose cost, within what period.

One last thing worth asking

Ask what spare parts are included. Glass and crystal pieces break, and a single missing element can hold up a handover by weeks while a replacement is made and shipped. Spares ordered with the original run cost a fraction of spares ordered afterwards.