Kichler, Quoizel and Murray Feiss share some interesting common elements: small local beginnings, hard work, and the continuity of family ownership. Although all three companies have grown enormously, the importance of family leadership is such that, on one company timeline, owners (father and son) are identified only by first names. When you buy a lighting fixture from Kichler, Quoizel, or Murray Feiss Lighting, you acquire a family history as well, not just the brand name of a large impersonal company. The story of the lighting industry is a story about people, not just lighting fixtures.

ABOUT KICHLER LIGHTING

Kichler Lighting began as a small decorative lighting business in Cleveland OH. Bought in 1954 by Sam Minoff, it kept its original name in honor of its founder, Leonard Kichler. Sam Minoff, a member of the Lighting Hall of Fame and inaugural winner of the ARTS Lifetime Award, clearly wanted to preserve Kichler’s historical values, which he summarized as: customer care, product value, and design excellence.

Now a world leader in the decorative lighting industry, Kichler remains a Cleveland family company. Kichler’s collections include traditional, transitional, and contemporary lighting. Customers can explore complete collections online by room, function, or style. Kichler’s collections reflect a distinctive strong interest in the classic structural forms that have always distinguished great architecture and other enduring forms of design. Collections such as “Structures” and “Fallon” exhibit a playful curiosity about all the different ways these classic principles can be used in lighting design.

Special attention to design is displayed in its Smithsonian Collection, for which designers searched the Institution’s public and non-public collections to bring historically-accurate details to their Renwick, Joseph Henry, and Titus collections. The Renwick collection honors James Renwick, architect of the original Smithsonian Institution building, now nicknamed “the Castle.” Renwick lighting reflects the architect’s fascination with the Romanesque style. Joseph Henry, first Secretary of the Smithsonian, and William D. Titus, a Brooklyn inventor, encouraged technological innovation, as does the Kichler Company to this day.

In addition to its varied collections of interior residential lighting fixtures, Kichler takes a particular interest in landscape lighting. The company offers certified training in outdoor lighting to landscape and lighting designers and contractors. Both indoor and outdoor lighting by Kichler has kept pace with environmental and energy concerns, offering innovative products in low-voltage, solar and other energy-saving areas. Part of this effort is reflected in its large collection of lighted ceiling fans, suitable to many types of residential décor.

Kichler Lighting combines long-held family principles of service to consumers with respect for classic design and its place in both historical and contemporary lighting. Up next in the series, Quoizel lighting.