The Light at the end of the Recession

Designers see it shining at Light up Your Life.

By Carol Tisch

Susan and Moritz Inderbinen owners of Light up your Life with client Jens Sternberg

Last week the crème of Sarasota’s interior design community got together for a happy hour at Light Up Your Life—and for the first time in at least a year (or two) they really seemed happy. After a long, frightening hiatus, they’re getting work. Truth be told, it was good to see smiley faces again.

For the record, more than a few said they were cautiously optimistic. But there were real jobs to tout—some small, some out of town. When a designer from a retail store said she just got an entire house to decorate, heads turned –congratulations, camaraderie and encouragement filled the air.

Over 40 Sarasota designers and retailers attended the Light Up Your Life event.

“We’ve seen an uptick,” said John Collins of Light Up Your Life, “but we’re not ready to talk about when Sarasota will see a full real estate recovery.” The store, like so many ancillary businesses in Sarasota, is dependent on the building, buying and selling of homes.

I’ve loved this store – its merchandise and big-city showroom ambiance (with small town hospitality and service) since I first walked in looking for a powder room sconce seven years ago. I wasn’t Sarasotamagazine’s retail therapist at the time, but I had covered lighting fairs all over the world for design magazines. This store blew me away then. Now that they’ve expanded, it’s over-the-top, Miami design center style.

What I didn’t realize until seeing at least 40 of Sarasota’s finest interior designers, architects and home fashion retailers at the party—was that Light Up Your Life is as much trade as retail showroom, consulting on projects with design pros as well as consumers.

Reps from manufacturers I’ve met in Milan were on hand to introduce new lines—exciting names like Flos, Oggetti and Kartell. New names for me: Koltkoetter, Planika, Smart Earth LED and Planika.

Among the cool new products introduced:

The Ice Light High Power LED Desk Lamp ($179.95) with high powered LEDs and an LED head that not only swivels up and down, but also twirls a full 360 degrees, making it super easy to bring energy efficient, dimmable, natural looking light right where you want it. Believe it or not the Ice Light consumes only nine watts of power.

Totally amazing in form and function, the new Chasen S light from Flos (the Italian design leader) is innovative in its shape and the amount of light it produces through adjustable diffusers that are actually a series of louvers. Designed by Patricia Urquiola, whose Milanese studio turns out original concepts for everyone from Rosenthal to Alessi, the Chasen S lists for $2,725.