Lighting is arguably the most crucial design element in a room. The proper lighting sets the mood and ambience; controls the emotion, energy and flow; and even makes small spaces feel more expansive. Though often an afterthought, lighting influences a room’s atmosphere more than any furniture or accessories. Nobody knows this better than Riki Lent, senior vice president at Kalco Lighting and Allegri Crystal.
“Kalco thinks of every detail when designing a light,” Lent says. “We look at lighting as a piece of jewelry that dresses up a space or a piece of artwork that complements a room. And we love seeing a space come together with thoughtful, stylish lighting.”
Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Kalco specializes in handcrafted luxury lighting made with premium materials and quality craftmanship. With five decades of design expertise, the company also founded a luxury crystal lighting line and a modern furniture line that includes stools, cocktail tables, and floor and table lamps. Customers can choose from sophisticated styles and popular finish choices or request a custom-made piece to meet their personal preferences.
Spanning art deco influences to ultramodern styles, Kalco is well-known for introducing collections that set the lighting trends each season. A key element to staying ahead of the curve, and always offering fresh, elevated designs, is the company’s design-driven culture and award-winning team, led by industrial designers Takayuki Ishii, Grace Denniston and Claire Kessler, as well as its collaboration with celebrity interior designer Vanessa DeLeon. Today, Kalco’s designers are inspired by natural materials, like jute and Capiz shell.
“Kalco is evolving its naturally inspired design style, which transforms spaces into relaxed, Zen-like retreats while deepening our connections to nature,” Lent says. “Authentic alabaster, leather and ratan are premium materials that infuse warmth, beauty and luxury into the home.”
Denniston’s collections are spectacular due to her unique use of sustainable materials. For example, Kalco’s Poppy collection, a series of island lights, pendants, wall sconces and floor lamps, seamlessly shapes abaca fiber into a fun floral form atop an acacia wood base. Denniston also draws inspiration from forms found in nature, like banana leaves and waterfalls, combining sculptural elements to bring the collections to life.
Expanding upon Kalco’s collections crafted from leather, Kessler debuted the Pelt collection in Fall 2023. Blending sophistication with creativity, the three-tier leather chandelier and wall sconce offer a warm yet vibrant ombre-like color combination. The free-flowing leather medallions allow the fixture to move with airflow to create a visually dynamic setting.
Spring will see even more natural lighting offerings, including a piece made of Capiz shell from DeLeon. Part of DeLeon’s Ilumine line, the Demi collection is inspired by abstract art, with pendants made of stacked geometric shapes, bold colored glass and natural stones, like marble and jade, that read more like illuminated sculptures rather than lighting. The sculptures are delicately balanced compositions suspended on brass rods with soft LED lighting.
Personally designed by Ishii, the Flint collection comprises dramatic multi-drop pendants carved from natural alabaster and suspended with a dark jewelry chain. The collection has options for three, five and single pendants wired to a central base. There is a smaller steel ceiling hanger for each pendant that allows you to control the spread radius of the fixture and the hanging length of each drop.
Bold colorways are something Kalco does very well. Spring introductions called for chandeliers with peacock green glass and classically inspired art deco shapes, such as a repeated reed pattern that adds texture. More soft and subtle, the Azul chandelier offers tranquil pairings of translucent navy blue and iridescent peach glass shades with a natural twisted texture mounted on a classic aged-gold finish.
Another genuinely unique pendant, Tulipa is suspended by warm brass rods and created from layers of translucent glass shapes in alternating colors that resemble tulip petals. To bring this translucent, mirror-like polish to life, the company uses dichroic glass, which can display multiple colors depending on lighting conditions.
“I find myself craving more natural and understated colors,” Ishii says. “The pink colors of a sunset, deep blue lakes, golden desert sands and miles of green cornfields.”
If color and nature-inspired aren’t your style, there’s something for every aesthetic imaginable: industrial, mid-century modern, art deco, coastal chic, transitional, contemporary and more.
Allegri Crystal by Kalco Lighting, with a glamourous and grand array of indoor and outdoor options, is where Kalco truly sparkles and shines. With its decades-long passion for crystal, its modern interpretations of traditional fixtures free the sparkle from the heavy elements of the past. For example, the bohemian Vezzo island light is a curtain of vertical crystal drops framed by delicate metal scallops.
Allegri includes an extensive collection of luxurious crystal lighting worth designing entire rooms around. The streamlined Lina floor lamp is made of glowing LED rods encrusted with delicate Firenze crystal strands for a glamorous vibe that’s not flashy. Dimmable inner lighting makes the crystals glow, creating a soft, ambient light on a smooth, round marble base.
There’s no reason all that sparkle needs to stay inside, so Kalco also offers contemporary outdoor crystal lighting in the Esterno Cristallo collection. The Lina Esterno outdoor wall sconce features the same Firenze crystal rods encased in a matte black stainless steel frame.
The outstanding range of outdoor sconces aren’t just glamourous and elegant, they’re also coated with fluorocarbon finish technology to withstand harsh climates, from the salt-filled air in Miami to the dry desert sun in Las Vegas.
“Esterno Cristallo is a perfect solution for people who want to spend time outside in style and luxury,” Ishii says. “The fireplace found its place in the backyard, so why not crystal light fixtures? Working on that collection solidified for me that the indoor-outdoor trend is here to stay.”
Innovation and LED technology play an integral role as Kalco enhances optimal lighting experiences for residential and commercial spaces. The company recently announced that new color temperature customization options are available with various decorative lighting designs. The advanced CCT (correlated color temperature) LED technology allows customers to select from a range of color temperatures, from warm to cool tones, to create the perfect ambience for any space, from luxury homes to restaurants and resorts.
“While lighting controls the ambience, color temperatures directly impact our sleep and mood,” Lent explains. “The right color temperature can positively affect our well-being at home and change the energy of a room from cozy and relaxed to vibrant and energetic.”
Kalco has showrooms in Las Vegas, Dallas and Highpoint Market.
“Lighting makes life all the more interesting,” Lent says. “If we only needed light to see things in the dark, then why do we have fixtures covered with thousands of crystal cuts or inlaid Capiz shell? Lighting plays a big part in room transformations.” *
Robin Howard is a freelance writer in Charleston. See more of her work at robinhowardwrites.com.
