Thomas Hope (1769-1831), an influential English furniture and interior designer was inspired by his extensive Grand Tour travels in Europe, Greece, Turkey and Egypt and his family tradition of collecting on a grand scale. He was determined to reform contemporary taste by returning to the classical purity of antiquity in architecture, interiors and furniture. His innovative designs helped define what we understand as the Regency style. His book, Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, published in 1807, introduced the term 'interior decoration' into the English language. Hope's style even influenced the Regency Revival of the 1920s and '30s, and Art Deco design.

Named after the Prince Regent, later George IV, circa 1810 to 1830, the term is also used more widely to describe the prevailing English neo-classical style between the 1790s and 1840. In lighting, they used multiple cut-glass prisms to achieve as many reflections as possible such as 'double-stars' and 'icicles'. Two chandelier designs typical of this period are the colza oil dish light and the balloon-shaped chandelier with graduated chains of prisms.