AlabasterLab sells hand-carved Egyptian alabaster lighting and homeware. We are based in Amsterdam and ship across the European Union.
Where the stone comes from
Everything we sell is carved in Luxor, in Upper Egypt.
Luxor has worked alabaster for about as long as anyone has. Most of the workshops sit on the west bank of the Nile, near the tombs the stone was originally cut for. The stone has been quarried in Egypt since antiquity, from sites in the region around Luxor and in Middle Egypt, among them Hatnub, Wadi Gerrawi and Wadi el-Assiuti, several of which were worked as far back as the Predynastic period. What has changed is the tools, and not by much.
The stone itself is a banded calcite rather than the gypsum that "alabaster" refers to elsewhere. Geologically it is a travertine, formed in layers by water moving through limestone caves, which is why every piece carries horizontal banding. It is soft enough to be hollowed by hand and translucent enough that light passes straight through the wall. That translucency is the whole reason the material has been used for lamps and vessels since antiquity, and it is why a piece looks like pale banded rock in daylight and like a lantern once it is lit.
We buy directly from the workshop that carves the work. Nothing in our catalogue is machine-pressed, cast or reconstituted.
Why we ship from Amsterdam
This is the part that makes us different from most sellers of Egyptian alabaster online.
We hold our own stock in Amsterdam. When you order, the piece you buy is already in the Netherlands. Your order is picked off a shelf here and posted from here. It is not forwarded to a workshop in Egypt to be dispatched, and it does not cross a customs border on its way to you.
In practice that means three things: delivery is measured in days rather than weeks, orders inside the EU carry no import duty or customs handling, and returns come back to a Dutch address rather than an international one.
No two pieces are identical
Alabaster is a natural stone, and its banding, colour and translucency vary from block to block. Two lamps of the same design will not carry the same pattern, and the piece that arrives will not match its photograph exactly.
We think that is the point of buying stone rather than ceramic. But we would rather say it plainly before you order than have it be a surprise afterwards: variation is a characteristic of the material, not a fault.
Colour also shifts with light. A piece that reads cream and grey in daylight will usually read amber and honey once it is lit from inside.
How your order is packed
Stone is solid but it chips and cracks if it is dropped. Every order is wrapped and packed for transit at our cost, and packaging is included in the shipping rate rather than added at checkout.
If something goes wrong
You have a statutory right as an EU consumer to withdraw from a purchase within 14 days. We extend that to 30 days.
If you simply change your mind, you pay the return postage. If a piece arrives damaged, faulty or is not what you ordered, we pay the return postage and refund or replace it — including the original delivery charge. Damage in transit is our responsibility, not yours.
Full detail is in our refund policy and shipping policy.
Who you are buying from
AlabasterLab
Oeverpad 542
1068 PM Amsterdam
Netherlands
Email: contact@alabasterlab.com
If you have a question about a piece, its size, or how it behaves when lit, write to us before you order. We would rather answer a question than process a return.