Lighting Loft embodies the maxim “design around the light source.” According to owner Shuly Zion, selecting the right light source for the task at hand is the most important decision he will help you make. “The rest is just décor. This leitmotif guides the design process for all our projects,” he says.
For over 23 years, Lighting Loft has served the Atlanta area, specializing in modern, contemporary fixtures and lighting control systems, with the added benefit of a full design studio for creating precise lighting solutions. The 4,000-square-foot showroom and design center is unique in offering a full spectrum of lighting services and design, from entire home lighting plans to custom fixtures and singular lamps; the company also provides blueprints for lighting plans and 3-D renderings for custom fixtures. The unique showroom is conveniently located in Miami Circle, a half-mile cul-de-sac of renowned high-end décor and interior design showrooms in the heart of Buckhead.
Zion came to the United States from Israel in 2002. After living in Pennsylvania, then Hawaii, Zion and his family made their way to Atlanta in 2012. His foray into the world of lighting began in Hawaii, with a lighting showroom in Honolulu. Once Zion landed in Atlanta, he joined forces with Lighting Loft’s previous owner, Yaacov Golan, a leader in the Atlanta lighting design community. Over the course of the next 10 years, the two men worked closely together, Zion enthusiastically soaking up the valuable knowledge Golan had to offer and in the process learning the finer details of the lighting business. “Golan taught me to design lighting with an artistic touch,” Zion says.
Memorable among the numerous projects in which they collaborated were the Mercedes-Benz dealership in Manhattan, Alon’s Bakery in Phipps Plaza and many opulent homes in Atlanta and areas beyond. When the time came for Golan to retire, the torch was passed to Zion, who carries on Golan’s vision, exemplifying his business tenets in every customer interaction and providing superior service, always with a personal touch.
Lighting Loft makes the selection of appropriate and artistically pleasing lighting an enjoyable process, be it lighting for a specific space or an entire household. Key to the design process is what Zion calls a “layering system.” In this system, three main layers of light are part of every design, namely task lighting, architectural lighting and ambient lighting. “Task lighting is the most important layer of light. We specify a quality, uninterrupted light source over task spaces. When we add direct lighting over a kitchen island, for example, it provides not only good work light but has the added benefit of its reflection providing some ambient lighting,” explains Zion.
Architectural lighting, on the other hand, is meant to exclusively highlight a home’s distinctive architectural features or works of art, be they paintings or three-dimensional objects like sculpture. Ambient lighting is the third and final layer of lighting, and its purpose is to provide general illumination, set a mood and eliminate shadows.
Indirect lighting is one of the best tricks of the trade and should be in any lighting designer’s toolbox. Uplighting directs light onto the upper walls and ceiling of a room, distributing light across a wide surface, which in turn reflects that light. This form of ambient lighting minimizes glare and shadows, producing a pleasing and sophisticated look.
The aesthetic accents in lighting design are also key to beautifying a space. In addition to their functionality, specialty light fixtures add artistic flair and draw the eye upward, add sparkle and style, and help balance the other design elements below. “Specialty light fixtures are the jewelry for your home and greatly enhance its beauty,” says Zion.
Lighting Loft represents more than 80 top lighting design brands, including Hubbardton Forge, Eurofase, Modern Forms, Schonbek Beyond, Lib&Co., Visual Comfort, Matrix Mirrors and ET2.
For many, the company’s website is a great place to start to search for fixtures. Its refined search filter makes finding fixtures easy, as clients can search by size, style, finish, function, etc. A brief conversation with Zion and his staff invariably results in the team being able to pinpoint the perfect fixture, which may be out on the floor or within one of the company’s many catalogs. More often than not, a trip to the client’s home is warranted so that Zion can provide a more precise and specialized design assessment.
Many of Lighting Loft’s specialty fixtures are at a level with fine art and, in this capacity, fit in with classic architectural styles. These fixtures tend to be more contemporary in style, with unusual glasswork and artistically crafted metalwork. The scale and profile of art fixtures vary greatly, with available variations that are appropriate for everything from cathedral and vaulted ceilings to intimate spaces with low ceilings.
Other fixtures with distinctive artistic and stylistic features include sconces and lamps. Sconces are available in every conceivable architectural style, providing lighting that blends into its environment. Lighting Loft also has an array of table and floor lamps in various styles, color, textures, materials and shapes.
Lighting Loft’s team is a diverse group of talented individuals, each offering a unique set of skills that contribute to customers being well served. Victor Herec manages sales, purchasing and the technical side of the business, and Ghazi Suliman is the company’s sales manager.
“Our goal is to guide our customers toward products and layouts that result in beautifully lit spaces that are aesthetically impactful, as well as functional,” Zion says.
Lighting Loft’s ability to create optimal lighting designs sets it apart from the competition. The impact of Zion’s approach is that customers will have pleasing and artful lighting that meets their needs for years. *
Christina Andrews is a freelance writer from the Napa Valley who specializes in personal and business bios, food and wine, visual arts, music, hospitality, the event industry, community interest stories, obituaries and political satire.
