As designers inspired and influenced by the past, many of our favorite projects are those that are for older houses with rich history and great bones.
When Kate Wood of Worth Preserving asked Quittner to design lighting for the new kitchen in a whole-house historic rehabilitation project she was spearheading in Staatsburg, New York, we sprang at the opportunity. Kate is one of our favorite and most trusted creative partners – together, we have curated fixtures and furnishings for collaborations at several properties, including a circa-1800 house and the 2022 Kingston Design Showhouse. We share a commitment to helping places and objects from the past find their way into the future, with integrity, so working together is affirming, nourishing, and wildly fun.
L-R: Kate Wood of Worth Preserving, Pippa Biddle and Benjamin Davidson of Quittner
A fellow advocate for layering pieces from different time periods, Kate usually specifies vintage light fixtures for her rehab projects. This time, she challenged us to create a set of new, historically-informed custom pieces that would make a quiet statement bridging past and present. Like the custom kitchen she designed for the home, she wanted the lighting to meld with the Arts-and-Crafts style of the home while offering cues that thoughtful improvements have been made.
With this in mind, we designed the lighting for the kitchen at Staatsburg to be efficient and honest. There is a plain-spoken-ness to the forms — one large fixture over the kitchen island and two matching pendants — that modestly say “I am here to work.” These designs are in keeping with the honest creed at the heart of the Arts and Crafts Movement (late-19th to early 20th century), as well as the open and practical design of the kitchen. Unadorned simplicity and a rugged, easy-to-maintain design mean that these pieces will wear well for the home’s next century.
The client was thrilled with the results of this Quittner x Worth Preserving collaboration. And Em McCann Zauder’s photography beautifully captures the fresh brilliance of the space.
At Quittner, we work with interior designers, preservationists, and homeowners to meld past and present through historically-informed design. Explore our collection, or contact us to learn more about what we do and how we can help with your projects.
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