Before colour comes shape. Fabric cable comes round, flat and in various braids – and the shape decides where the cable hangs, lies or runs well.
Round cable: for everything that hangs
Round cable (2x0.75 or 3x0.75, 6 to 7 mm diameter) is the standard choice for pendant lights, spiders, bars and plug-in pendants. It hangs straight, doesn't twist, fits every cable grip and runs cleanly through ceiling hooks. Almost all ceiling roses and lamp holders are designed for round cable. If in doubt, go round.
Flat cable: for wall, floor and table
The flat cable (2x0.75, about 3.5 × 6 mm) lies flat against the wall and floor, can be run under skirting boards and laid across tabletops without rolling. For plug-in lights whose cable runs visibly along the wall, for table and floor lamps, and for power strips with fabric cable. It's less suitable as a hanging pendant cable: it twists slightly when hung and then shows its narrow side.
Zigzag, striped and 3D cables: patterns with texture
Patterned cables are mostly round cables with a two-colour braid: zigzag (two colours diagonally), stripes (lengthways), houndstooth and 3D (diamond texture). They behave like round cable but are a little stiffer, because the dense patterned braid sits tighter. For plug-in pendants and single pendants where the cable is the focus.
Twisted cable
Two individually sheathed cores twisted around each other – the look of old electrical installations. Goes with porcelain lamp holders, surface-mounted switches and an industrial look. Twisted cables need strain reliefs that grip both cores (most ceiling roses do), and can't be fed through narrow lamp holder shafts. Good for pendants, unsuitable for table lamps with internal routing.
Outdoor cable (silicone, IP65)
For outdoors there's fabric cable with a silicone instead of PVC inner sheath and a braid that copes with UV and wet – combined with IP65 lamp holders and connectors. It looks the same as indoors; installation follows its own rules, see our article Fabric cable in the bathroom and outdoors.
Bending radius and routing
Round cables like bend radii of 3 cm or more, flat cables 2 cm or more across the narrow side. So don't kink them around 90-degree corners on the wall; instead lay a small curve with a clip 3 cm before and after the corner. In ceiling hooks the round cable sits loose; if you want to fix it there, use hooks with a clamp, not cable ties (they dig into the braid).
In the configurator each build only shows the cable types that suit it – the single pendant offers round cable and patterns, the power strip flat cable.