Shining Bright

From antique fixtures to modern-day lamps, a couple sees the light

According to Benjamin Quittner Davidson, a lighting designer and restorer based in upstate Germantown, the legendary 19th-century dandy Beau Brummell said it best: “To be truly elegant, one should not be noticed.” The mantra rings true at Davidson’s storefront and workshop Quittner, which specializes in restoring antique light fixtures and has grown in recent years to encompass the production of brand-new pieces based on classic designs from the past. Throughout history, Davidson says, light fixtures “were made to solve the same problem: how to bring light into a space in a way that is beautiful, but ultimately unremarkable.” Pointing to a 1930s flush-mount piece that will later be ground and polished on an industrial sander, he adds, “Rewiring and restoring a fixture to modern standards, then updating it with powder coating in different colors, allows it to continue being useful in a disposable market. What’s interesting with many antique fixtures is that attempts were often made to turn the designs into standards, but either they didn’t pan out or they peaked in popularity.”

Davidson and his wife, Quittner CEO Pippa Biddle, operate out of a lovingly restored 1870s barn, replete with antique crystal chandeliers hung from former bridle and tack hooks and bins stuffed with wiring accessories and lamp parts. (The pair’s offices occupy former horse stalls.) Partnering with Aleah StewartSouris, a ceramic artist, they produce hand-thrown ceramic lighting pieces ranging from pendants to surface-mount fixtures and table lamps. “Aleah comes