What is Modern Lighting, anyway? How would an ordinary person distinguish modern design from traditional? If you can make it over to Design Within Reach's Potrero showroom in San Francisco, you will notice a visual time line spanning the far wall of their store that pretty accurately details the birth and rise of modernism and its influence on the world of design… in other words, EVERYTHING! Furniture, architecture, technology, you name it, the wave of modernism swept over countless objects that are still in use today. Everyday objects were chiseled down to their essentials, released from the dusty closet of aging tradition. Visionaries were breaking open the shell, launching humanity into an age of endless possibilities.

Designers like George Nelson, Antonio Citterio, and Louis Poulsen, as well as architects like Louis Kahn, are the forefathers in the field of Modern Lighting, a few of which are featured in the May 2010 issue of modern design. of Design Within Reach. Discouraged by an overpriced ceiling lamp, George Nelson decided to create his own which became his landmark Bubble Lamp. Louis Kahn was known for his specific attention to light when creating his architectural masterpieces. In April 2010, DWR picked up two of our signature modern lighting pendants (Stamen and Pod) and we are proud to be amongst these giants

As Niche Modern we recognize our roots in the modern tradition and strive to maintain that legacy of constantly scouting out new directions, whether it be in the way we craft our hand-made glass pendants, the salute to our ancestors with our incandescent filament bulbs, or the vitality in our commitment to being a living company, a small family-sized outfit nestled into the vast history of design the world around. Modern Lighting is our trademark, a signal in our constant exploration of the principles of design and the curiosity of new possibilities to come.