Lighting Shouldn't Be an Afterthought

Our first apartment had white walls, secondhand furniture, and a single overhead bulb we hated. Every lamp we could actually afford was molded plastic from a big-box aisle. Everything with real character sat behind a showroom glass case with a 16-week lead time and a price tag that assumed we had a decorator.

So we started calling small studios and foundries directly — the same people making pieces for those showrooms — and asked if they'd sell to us without the markup. They would. Every fixture we carry now is sourced the same way: hand-finished by an independent maker, wired to US electrical standards before it leaves our warehouse, and shipped from stock instead of made to order. No showroom rent baked into the price, no guessing whether it'll arrive in one piece.

We still personally approve every studio before we carry their work, and we still answer the emails ourselves when someone isn't sure a piece will fit their room. That part hasn't scaled, and we'd like to keep it that way.