Where to Buy Forbes and Lomax in the United States

Forbes and Lomax sells in the United States through two of its own showrooms, New York and Los Angeles, and not through an online store. There is a separate US product line with its own US cut sheets, and no price appears anywhere on the public pages. Everything below was read on their own site on 15 October 2026.

In short

• Two US showrooms: the D and D Building in New York, and La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. No cart, no checkout, no published price.
• The US line is specified for US line voltage. Their technical index is headed Switches for Standard Line Voltage Installations.
• Their US rotary dimmer sheet sets a rough in condition almost nobody reads: junction boxes must be recessed below the finished wall surface by at least one eighth of an inch.
• No certification mark is named on any US page or cut sheet we read. That is an absence of a statement, not a statement.
• Importing a UK device yourself puts the approval decision in front of your inspector, and the way out is a field evaluation by a recognised laboratory.

Two US showrooms, and no online store

The company runs two addresses in the United States. New York is at the D and D Building, 979 Third Avenue, Suite 1207, with a US telephone number, and Los Angeles is at 936 North La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood, with its own. Both route to one US sales email address. The Los Angeles space opened as their third showroom worldwide, after New York and London, at around five hundred square feet inside the La Cienega Design Quarter.

That is the whole retail footprint as published: no dealer locator, no list of stockists, no third city. If you are not in Manhattan or West Hollywood, buying means a phone call or an email, and specifying means trusting a photograph or asking for a sample. That is a different purchase from clicking a brass toggle switch into a cart at midnight, and whether the difference is a problem depends on who is buying.

What the US catalogue actually contains

The US site groups the range into toggle switches, rotary dimmers, push buttons, outlets, home automation and invisible finishes. The finishes named across those US pages are Unlacquered Brass, Aged Brass, Nickel Silver, Stainless Steel, Antique Bronze, Brushed Brass, Matte Brass, and a painted range including painted outlets. Their rotary dimmer sheet lists a slightly different set, adding Verdigris and the Invisible Lightswitch.

Two things in that list have no equivalent anywhere in our catalogue and we will say so rather than pretend otherwise. The invisible plate, a transparent wall plate meant to disappear into the wallcovering behind it, is theirs and there is no substitute for it. And an etch primed plate supplied ready to paint solves a problem that a metal finish cannot solve at all. If either of those is the reason you are reading this page, stop comparing and go to the showroom.

How you get a price, and what the silence means

There is no price on any US page. The site asks you to contact them to request pricing, assistance with an order, or technical support, and offers a catalogue and price list through a request form, delivered by email or by post, with a field asking whether you are a designer, architect, contractor, electrician, retailer or homeowner. No trade account, designer discount or specification program is described.

A profession field on a price list request usually means the number depends on who is asking, which is normal in the design trade and is how our own trade program works. The consequence for a schedule is that you cannot budget this brand from a browser. You can budget ours: every position is published, and the arithmetic of cost per wall position is in our brass switch alternatives guide. We will not guess at their figures, because a made up competitor price is worse than no price.

The US line is specified for US line voltage

This is the most useful thing on their site and it takes a minute to find. Their US technical information page is headed Switches for Standard Line Voltage Installations, it carries separate US cut sheets, and those sheets quote load ratings in watts and VA in the American style rather than in amps at 230 volts. It also separates Class 2 circuits, for momentary push buttons and toggles, from Class 1 circuits. The US line is therefore a US line, not the British range with a different label on the box.

What the sheets we read do not print is a voltage figure, so ask for it in writing, with the frequency and the current rating, before a specification goes out. We publish ours: the module behind our knurled rotary dimmer is rated 110 to 120 volts AC at 60 hertz, forward phase TRIAC, and the full sheet is in our article on the rotary format.

What their US rotary dimmer is rated to drive

Their US sheet is specific about loads, and the figures are worth putting beside ours because the two products are aimed at the same wall and sized very differently. Both sets of numbers below come from the published sheet of each company, read on 15 October 2026.

Read the last row rather than the first. A maximum tells you what will not overheat; a minimum tells you what will flicker, and low load flicker is the commonest reason a finished brass dimmer gets blamed for a lighting problem it did not cause. We publish a 3 watt floor because we would rather lose the sale than take the service call, and the diagnosis sequence is in what buzzing, warmth and flicker actually mean. Their sheet does not print a minimum, so ask for one.

One thing neither of us publishes, and be suspicious of anyone who does: a list of compatible light fittings. We keep none and we publish no flicker measurements, because the driver inside the fitting decides the outcome and it changes without notice. The only answer that holds up is written confirmation from the fitting manufacturer.

The junction box has to be recessed, and that is a rough in decision

Their US cut sheets carry one line that will cost somebody a drywall repair: junction boxes must be recessed below the finished wall surface by at least one eighth of an inch. That is a consequence of the construction. A plate that sits on top of a box, with the mechanism behind it, needs the box set back so the plate lands flat on the finished wall rather than on the box edge.

Two things follow. On new construction the instruction belongs in the electrical rough in notes, before plaster, because moving a box after the wall is finished is a different trade. And in a retrofit where the boxes sit proud of the plaster, which is very common in American renovation, the plate will not lie flat, and that is a site problem nobody mentioned at the showroom. Our guide to plate sizing and gangs covers the opposite case, where a monobloc unit mounts to the box ears rather than bridging across them.

Two rules that are identical on both sheets

Their sheet states that all units are supplied as three way and work as single pole or three way, and that a rotary dimmer must be paired with a toggle or a non dimming rotary switch at the other end of a three way circuit. That is the rule we publish, for the same physical reason: two phase cutting dimmers on one circuit fight each other. When an instruction appears on both sheets it is not a marketing position, it is electricity. The corollary we publish and they do not address is that a stairwell with three switching points can be switched from all three but dimmed from only one, because no four way rotary dimmer exists in our catalogue, and the 4 Way option on our retro and knurled toggles covers the third point.

The second shared rule is that 0 to 10 V dimmers need extra wiring and a power pack. We say the same in different words: a 0-10V controller never interrupts the 120 volt line, so it requires a separate switch, and it is not interchangeable with a TRIAC dimmer. If a project has specified 0-10V drivers, that sentence decides the box count and the plate layout, and it decides it early. The architecture is in 0-10V and PWM low voltage dimmers explained, and the installation and compatibility guide has the wiring. Do not let anyone, us included, confirm a driver compatibility without the driver manufacturer saying it in writing.

Plate on box against monobloc: how many pieces you are buying

This is the structural difference, and it survives every finish and price comparison. Their rotary dimmers can share a plate with toggle switches, push buttons and outlets, so the plate is a separate component and the mechanism goes behind it. Our units are monobloc: plate and mechanism are one piece, fixed with two screws per gang, dropping into the American box you already have.

Each approach wins something. A plate and mechanism system lets you mix device types on one bespoke plate, which is why we built a configurator for the same need. A monobloc unit cannot be reconfigured later, and we say so, but it cannot be assembled wrong on site, has no back box to buy, and a damaged unit is one part number rather than three. We have run this axis against Corston, Meljac, Rejuvenation and Restoration Hardware and Residence Supply against Buster and Punch, and the piece count comes first every time. For the product by product comparison, the page is Forbes and Lomax against Studio Timeless; this one is only about getting hold of them in America.

Certification: what is named, and what is not

We read their US showroom page, their US technical information index, their US rotary dimmer cut sheet and their US outlet cut sheet on 15 October 2026. None of the four names a certification mark. Not UL, not ETL, not CSA, not CE. We are stating an absence of a statement and nothing more: it does not mean the products are uncertified, and turning that silence into a claim would be exactly the dishonesty this Journal exists to avoid.

What we can do is publish our own position in the same table, including the part that does not flatter us.

That last row costs us sales and we keep printing it. An inspector who wants a listing mark will not accept an explanation, so if a project is going to be inspected, specify the knurled range rather than the retro one, because only the knurled toggle carries a mark you can look up.

Certification also has a geography, and we learned what that costs in a single morning. On 15 October a buyer in Alberta cancelled a rotary dimmer order because we could not offer a rotary dimmer with Canadian certification. The cULus mark on the knurled toggle covers Canada as well as the United States; our rotary dimmers carry no equivalent Canadian mark today, so there was nothing to substitute. One line on a specification sheet ended the order, which is the clearest argument for asking any imported brand, ours included, exactly what it is certified for and in which country.

Verify any of this through the database of the certifier rather than the word of the vendor. The UL code authority guidance states that listed products are required to carry a marking identifying the listed company, that a certification is checked in the UL product database, and that a CE marking is not a listing. The OSHA NRTL program covers the other half: it recognises private sector laboratories to certify products against safety test standards, each within a defined scope and each using its own registered mark.

Importing a switch yourself, and what the inspector asks

People do try this, usually after a showroom quote. You can buy a British device, but a British switch is built for a different voltage, a different plate standard and a different back box, and the British range includes devices with no American equivalent at all. Set the physical fit aside and the approval question is still waiting.

Under NFPA 70, equipment is approved by the authority having jurisdiction, and in practice an inspector looking at an unlabelled imported device asks one question: who certified this. The route out is a field evaluation. UL describes it as an on site assessment that determines whether new, unlabelled or modified equipment meets applicable safety standards, notes that authorities having jurisdiction may mandate one before allowing equipment to be energised, and issues a field evaluated label when the equipment complies.

That is a real and legitimate path, priced for industrial switchgear rather than for one brass light switch in a hallway. If you want British design on an inspected American job, buy the US line from the US showrooms, where somebody has already done this thinking. Who may legally do the work and who must declare it are two separate questions, both worked through in do you need a permit and a licensed electrician.

Outlets are where the two markets diverge most

Their US outlet sheet lists duplex, duplex GFCI, duplex with USB, telephone, data for Cat 5 or Cat 6, and cable television on an F type coaxial connector. It gives no amperage, no voltage and no certification mark. So the American device types are there, which is the point: this is not a British socket with an adapter.

Our own range runs duplex, GFCI in 15 A and 20 A and dual USB-C, with the amperage, the ten finish values and every price in duplex, GFCI and USB-C compared. One honest note while we are naming prices: our duplex outlet carries a ten dollar Unlacquered premium that the GFCI does not, which looks like a pricing inconsistency rather than a decision, and we have flagged it rather than quietly leave it. If you are planning Unlacquered across a house, read how that living finish behaves first, and note that it is made to order and not returnable.

Three routes, and what each one costs you

These are the three ways an American project actually ends up with these switches on the wall, and what each route asks of you.

Lead time, spares and the fifth year

Their US pages say nothing about lead times, shipping methods, costs or regions, so there is nothing to report and we will not invent it. Ask, and ask specifically whether the finish you chose is held in the United States or made in Britain to order, because those are different answers in weeks.

Then ask the question that separates a brand from a project risk. In year five a plate is scratched during a repaint, or a dimmer fails in a dining room, and somebody has to match a finish mixed years earlier. A company with a parts shelf answers that; one that has rotated its collection does not. We hold dimmers, wall plates and replacement modules in stock for that moment, with the argument in how our rotary dimmers work. Ask them the same before you commit a house to a finish.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I buy Forbes and Lomax in the United States?

Through their own two US showrooms, read on their site on 15 October 2026: New York at the D and D Building, 979 Third Avenue, Suite 1207, and Los Angeles at 936 North La Cienega Boulevard in West Hollywood. Both list a US phone number and one US sales email address. No third US location is named.

Does Forbes and Lomax sell online?

Not on the pages we read. The US site says to contact them to request pricing, assistance with an order, or technical support, and there is no cart and no checkout. Buying is a conversation rather than a transaction, which also means a contractor cannot order a replacement plate at nine at night.

How much do Forbes and Lomax switches cost in the US?

No price appears anywhere on their US pages, and we will not guess one. The site offers a catalogue and price list through a request form, by email or by post, and asks which profession you are. Until it arrives, price the comparable position count from a brand that publishes figures and treat it as a floor.

Are Forbes and Lomax switches UL listed?

No certification mark is named on the US pages or the two US cut sheets we read on 15 October 2026, and an absence of a statement is not evidence either way. The only way to settle it is to ask in writing and check the certification in the certifier database, which is exactly what you should do to us.

Will Forbes and Lomax switches work on 120 volts?

Their US technical page is headed Switches for Standard Line Voltage Installations and the US cut sheets quote load ratings in watts and VA, so the US line is specified for US line voltage rather than being the UK line shipped over. Ask for the voltage in writing anyway, because the sheets we read do not print one.

Do Forbes and Lomax switches fit a standard American junction box?

Their US rotary dimmer sheet says one dimmer fits per gang of a standard junction box, so the gang logic is American. It also sets a condition most specifiers miss: junction boxes must be recessed below the finished wall surface by at least one eighth of an inch. That is a rough in instruction, far easier to satisfy before the drywall than after.

Can I import Forbes and Lomax switches from the UK myself?

You can buy a UK device, but it is built for a different voltage, a different plate standard and a different back box, and installing uncertified equipment puts the decision in front of your inspector under NFPA 70. The route out is a field evaluation by a recognised laboratory, which costs real money for one switch. Buy the US line instead.

Does Forbes and Lomax have a trade or designer program in the US?

No trade account, designer discount or specification program is described on the US pages we read. The catalogue request form does ask your profession, with designer, architect, contractor, electrician, retailer and homeowner among the choices, which suggests pricing differs by who is asking. Ask directly rather than assuming a published tier.

Do I need a licensed electrician to install them?

Treat that as two questions. Whether you are allowed to do the work is set by your state; whether it has to be declared is set by your local jurisdiction. Their own installation documents are titled General Instructions for Electricians, which tells you who they expect on site.

What is the closest US alternative to Forbes and Lomax?

There is no substitute for the invisible plate, which is theirs. If what you want is solid brass toggles and rotary dimmers that drop into an existing American box with published prices and a listing mark you can check, that is the comparison in our Forbes and Lomax article, and the wider field is in our brass switch alternatives guide.

Where each one is the right answer

Forbes and Lomax is the right call for the invisible plate, a painted or primed plate, a bespoke layout mixing device types, British design with a US specified line behind it, and a showroom visit as part of the process. We do none of that, and the invisible plate in particular has no substitute anywhere.

Studio Timeless is the right call for published prices you can budget from today, online reordering, a monobloc unit that drops into the box already in the wall without a rough in note, a listing mark you can look up before an inspection, and a parts shelf in year five. If your inspector wants that mark, specify the knurled toggle rather than the retro toggle, because only one of the two carries one. Circuit questions go to contact, and we answer in writing so there is a record.

Last updated: 15 October 2026