Custom Lighting Design in California
Shakúff is a hand-blown glass lighting studio in Industry City, Brooklyn. California is about as far as our work travels inside the United States, and the two projects here sit about as far apart as the state allows.
In Los Angeles, a wave of gold pendants on a custom track above the bar at Q Sushi. Up in the Sierra Nevada, sixty pendants falling three floors down the stairway of a modern mountain house.
Fixtures from these projects
Every piece here hangs in one of the California projects above. All of them are made to order, and any one can be drawn to a different size, colour or pendant count for your room.
Los Angeles and Northern California
A downtown restaurant at one end of the state and a mountain house at the other, two years apart.
Q Sushi
Simplicity and artful arrangement, which is what sushi asks of a room. We drew a custom track of individual Kadur Drizzle pendants in gold, set in a slight wave along the bar, so the light lands on the chefs and their food rather than on the fixture.
View project
Truckee Residence
A stairway running the full three floors of a modern house in the Sierra Nevada. Sixty pendants on a thirty-six-inch canopy, in a mix of Amber, Gray and Black Drizzle glass chosen against the warm wood ceiling and the cool greys of the structure — majestic, but reading as naturally as the landscape outside.
View projectQuestions from California clients
Do you work in California?
Yes — two completed projects so far, Q Sushi in Los Angeles in 2017 and a private residence in Truckee in 2019. Alongside those there are seventeen projects across New York, six in South Florida and two each in New Jersey and Connecticut, with further work in Las Vegas, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Scottsdale, Montreal, El Salvador and Tel Aviv.
You are in Brooklyn and we are in California. How does that work?
The design stage happens on drawings rather than in the room: send us the ceiling height, the span, the materials around it and your elevations, and we come back with a scaled drawing, a pendant count and a quote. Fabrication is in Brooklyn. We do not install ourselves anywhere — every fixture ships with detailed instructions and we work directly with your contractor and electrician. We also partner with showrooms across the United States, so there is often one near you, and we can send samples; those are charged, and the cost is reversed if you return them in good condition.
Can you match the glass colour to our materials?
It is usually the first thing we settle. The Truckee fixture mixes Amber, Gray and Black Drizzle glass specifically to sit between the warm wood of the ceiling and the cool greys of the steps. Q Sushi went gold for the opposite reason, to stay quiet over a dark timber bar. Send us the finishes you are working with and the colour gets drawn alongside the shape, before anything is made.
Do you take on restaurants and commercial spaces?
Q Sushi is one of several. We have also made fixtures for Lululemon in New York and Chicago, the Vdara Hotel in Las Vegas, Yotel Miami, the Capital One Lounge at JFK, the DOCA showrooms in New York and Boston, and Texas Instruments in Dallas. Commercial work tends to arrive through the architect or the designer running the fit-out, which suits us.
Can you light a staircase or a multi-floor space?
It is one of the things we are asked for most. Truckee runs sixty pendants down three floors from a single thirty-six-inch canopy. Elsewhere we have hung a Twist the full height of a Delray Beach stairwell, four hundred and twenty pendants beneath a twenty-foot Connecticut ceiling, and a twelve-foot drop of ninety-six into a Miami foyer. Tell us the ceiling construction early, so the fixing can be drawn before the glass is blown.
How long does a custom fixture take?
Typically 10–14 weeks for a custom project and 10–12 weeks for a fixture from our catalogue, counted from when the invoice is paid. Orders can sometimes be expedited for an additional fee, at our production manager’s discretion. The drawings come first and are free of charge.
Are the fixtures UL approved?
Yes. All our fixtures are UL approved, use LED exclusively, are dimmable, and run on 120V in the US.
Beyond California
California is the longest haul inside the United States, but not the furthest our glass goes. Seventeen projects sit across New York, six in South Florida and two each in New Jersey and Connecticut, with more in Las Vegas, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Scottsdale, Montreal, El Salvador and Tel Aviv.
Start a California project
Tell us about the room, the ceiling height and the materials around it. We will come back with a drawing, a pendant count and a quote — the drawings are free, wherever the room is.
Contact the studio