Interior space is like a person; first impressions can be made in a matter of seconds. It could be warm, personable, inviting—or cold, distant, sparse. Space has the ability to transform our social experience and our understanding. As the lights go down in a movie theater, we instinctively know that it’s time for quiet. When lights are raised, we understand that we can again move, talk, and go about our day’s activities. Much of this of course has to do with our circadian rhythm: when it is light we wake, when it is dark we sleep.
Light plays a distinctive role in our daily lives, be it natural or electric. Lighting in the home molds the user experience and influences how the space is used. Perhaps most understanding of this concept are contemporary lightingesigners and architects. The late architect Le Corbusier once said good design is “Space and light and air. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.” Life is not just about sustenance of the body, but of the mind, body, and spirit.
Le Corbusier’s dictum on space, light, and air has burned bright and hot in every influential designer since the invention of the gas light. Designers across time have used space, light, and air as their artist’s canvas in their pursuit of creating the absolute fusion of form and function. Contemporary lighting has the power to evolve your living space and influence use. In the words of Paul Rand, “good design doesn’t date. Bad design does.” The entryway of your home is the space in which your guests will be first introduced. As you welcome your visitors, you want your entryway to offer them that long-awaited reprieve from the harsh, outside world.
Feiss
Established in 1955, founder Murray Feiss first began his company after returning from military service at the end World War II. Feiss hit the pavement selling small porcelain figurine lamps with hand-sewn lampshades artistically crafted by his very own mother, Rose Feiss. The lamps soon gained notoriety with the American public as functional lighting works built of superb craftsmanship, revolutionizing the way people used light in their home. No longer was light purely regarded as a function in the home, lighting design was now as chic as it was functional.
50 years later, the Feiss company still leads the way in originality and inventiveness. The Feiss lighting company continues to specialize in Art Deco and Mid-Century inspired designs, blending the French design style with machine age materials. To quote perhaps America’s greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, “space is the breath of art.” Art Deco’s vibrant colors, decadent ornamentation, and geometric shapes bring an imaginative flair to a living space, inviting the inhabitant into a world of colorful refracted light and organic spirals. Or, if the Mid-Century Modern is more your taste, the sophistication of the Mid-Century’s sleek lines and simplicity of forms with its vibrant and muted color schemes will streamline your life.
Hudson Valley
To see its name, it is clear the Hudson Valley lighting company prides itself on crafting lighting fixtures that reflect the natural beauty of the world. Fashioning designs to compliment the forms and shapes of the natural world, Hudson Valley works to capture the essence of the sun’s light and warm the house with quality design and brilliant displays. The mission of Hudson Valley is to generate tenderness and well-being in the home. When guests are met with reassurance and comfort in the entryway, your home becomes a safe space for all who visit.
Inspired by the Hudson River Valley like the great Hudson River School was before them, designers at Hudson Valley look to their surroundings to create their signature wall and ceiling fixtures. Fascinated by nineteenth-century American colonial architecture and the mysterious beauty of nature, the lighting designs of Hudson Valley feature strong lines and blossoming fixtures in polished nickel, aged brass, and old bronze, mimicking materials of the industrial age. Tradition starts in the home, and for Hudson Valley, it is tradition that manifests splendor.
Quoizel
Every noteworthy designer in the history of design has found space and detail to be the founding elements of what makes good design. According to Charles Eames, “the details are details. They make the product. The connections, the connections, the connections. It will in the end be these details that give the product its life.” This belief rings true with Quoizel, a lighting company dedicated to producing seamless, functional designs that unite form and function, every true modernist’s dream.
Founded in 1930 by Michael Chaikin, Chaikin started the company selling table lamps at a small shop in New York. Today, Quoizel is found in Charleston, South Carolina, where the company continues to grow. Despite this, Quoizel has maintained their small business acumen, and believes in delivering a product that is as efficient as it is tasteful. Refusing to follow today’s trends, Quoizel lighting remains relevant through practicing good design. At Quoizel you can find the immutable Tiffany lamp in its beatific metal and glass renderings of flora and fauna, or a lovely hanging chandelier with twinkle lights reminiscent of the morning dew.
Your home is your refuge, it is a sanctuary, and as such it should be designed with the utmost care and precision that today’s masters have to offer. An entryway’s energy can invite you into a living space or make you want to take two steps back. Contemporary lighting assuages the meeting of the inside and outside world and creates a harmonious balance between invitation and permanence. If you’re looking to redesign your entryway, contemporary lighting is the key to your home.
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