Arabela Lighting introduced (l-r) Callista, Aurora and Copa, among other designs.
DALLAS – Arabela Lighting made its industry debut at Lightovation last week with a design point of view that company founder and industry veteran Lee Nemeth described as “lighting as sculpture.”
Its debuting fixtures spanned a range of materials and styles, but its calling card are its unique glass elements, which are hand-blown or hand-molded. Many of its fixtures are inspired by nature, such as the Calla Lily, or use intriguing materials, like the corn husk strands that wrap the frame of Copa fixtures and sconces. There are also interesting material combos, like the French Country chandelier that marries a metal candelabra design with a wooden spindle. Former Elk creative Charles Kelton now heads design for Arabela.
The company is targeting the higher end of the market and considers lighting showrooms its target channel of distribution.
“We feel there’s a void [there] and if you are bringing in the right designs at the right price point, we’ll get the right reaction, and we have,” Nemeth said.
After beginning his lighting career at Home Depot Expo, Nemeth next served as senior vice president of Elk Group International for 16 years. He retired five years ago, but said he was lured back into lighting by business partners (and sisters) Susan and Sophia Wang.
Staring a new lighting company made sense to Nemeth “as long as you do it with the right quality, in stock and ready to ship. … The customer wants that,” he said.
The company manufactures the line in China, but goods will be 70% in stock July 1 and 100% in stock August 1, according to Nemeth. The company is headquartered in Marietta, Ga., and has a warehouse in City of Industry, Calif.
Nemeth believes the tariff situation will settle down and was confident about launching a company amid economic turbulence. “Our strategy is to maintain a price point that’s comfortable for consumers so they can see the value in it.”
He acknowledged that he had the advantage of not having to raise prices since he is starting from scratch. “We’re the new guys,” he said. “We had five iterations of price points until [the Trump administration] put tariffs on pause [in early April.] But we’re always conscious of where price points [need to be] to make sure they are acceptable.”
