ABOUT ITHACA LIGHTS + AND HOME
Ithaca Lights is an independent, locally owned lighting and home design showroom in Ithaca, New York. We help homeowners, designers, builders, electricians, and businesses select beautiful, functional lighting for projects of every scale.
Inside our showroom, ANDHOME brings together thoughtfully curated home goods, textiles, rugs, accessories, and furnishings designed to make everyday spaces feel considered, comfortable, and personal.
Ithaca Lights is an independent, locally owned lighting and home design showroom in Ithaca, New York. We help homeowners, designers, builders, electricians, and businesses select beautiful, functional lighting for projects of every scale.
Inside our showroom, ANDHOME brings together thoughtfully curated home goods, textiles, rugs, accessories, and furnishings designed to make everyday spaces feel considered, comfortable, and personal.
OUR ORIGIN STORY
When pandemic closures displaced longtime lighting expert Cheryl, many of us in the community who had worked with her felt that loss deeply. With more than 25 years of experience and an incredible eye for detail, Cheryl had helped Zac and me—along with countless others throughout Upstate New York—make thoughtful lighting selections tailored to each project’s particular needs.
At the same time, Zac and I had always dreamed of opening our own store. We looked at each other and thought, “If not now, then when?” In October 2021, we signed a lease for the former GreenStar Co-op cooking classroom—which had once been an old car wash—and began transforming the space into what would become Ithaca Lights.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the showroom from the ground up with the help and encouragement of talented friends, family, and members of our community. From the beginning, we wanted the store to feel like walking into one of our homes or projects: warm, welcoming, personal, and filled with unexpected discoveries.
When you enter the showroom, you are greeted by handcrafted wood-slab tables beneath some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants. Around the corner, our kitchen display helps clients imagine the possibilities for the heart of their home. Throughout the store, every corner is intended to inspire curiosity, comfort, and new ideas for the spaces in which we live.
Our intimate showroom allows us to carefully curate and display a small selection of our favorite pieces from the thousands of lighting and home products available through our manufacturers and catalogs. Customers can also browse many of our offerings online or visit us in person for thoughtful guidance and personalized assistance.
To help us keep costs down as a small independent business, we greatly appreciate payment by check or cash whenever possible.
Most importantly, thank you for supporting our locally owned Ithaca store. Your support truly means the world to us.
To learn more about our architecture, interiors, and development work, visit KornerLot. You can also follow our latest projects and inspiration on Instagram at @KornerLot.
At the same time, Zac and I had always dreamed of opening our own store. We looked at each other and thought, “If not now, then when?” In October 2021, we signed a lease for the former GreenStar Co-op cooking classroom—which had once been an old car wash—and began transforming the space into what would become Ithaca Lights.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the showroom from the ground up with the help and encouragement of talented friends, family, and members of our community. From the beginning, we wanted the store to feel like walking into one of our homes or projects: warm, welcoming, personal, and filled with unexpected discoveries.
When you enter the showroom, you are greeted by handcrafted wood-slab tables beneath some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants. Around the corner, our kitchen display helps clients imagine the possibilities for the heart of their home. Throughout the store, every corner is intended to inspire curiosity, comfort, and new ideas for the spaces in which we live.
Our intimate showroom allows us to carefully curate and display a small selection of our favorite pieces from the thousands of lighting and home products available through our manufacturers and catalogs. Customers can also browse many of our offerings online or visit us in person for thoughtful guidance and personalized assistance.
To help us keep costs down as a small independent business, we greatly appreciate payment by check or cash whenever possible.
Most importantly, thank you for supporting our locally owned Ithaca store. Your support truly means the world to us.
To learn more about our architecture, interiors, and development work, visit KornerLot. You can also follow our latest projects and inspiration on Instagram at @KornerLot.
OUR VISION
To enrich everyday life through thoughtful lighting, furniture, rugs, and home goods that bring beauty, warmth, comfort, and functionality into the home.
We believe good design should not only look beautiful—it should improve the way people live, feel, gather, rest, and experience their spaces.
Through personalized guidance, technical expertise, and carefully curated products, we help our customers create homes that are practical, enduring, personal, and deeply inspiring.
We believe good design should not only look beautiful—it should improve the way people live, feel, gather, rest, and experience their spaces.
Through personalized guidance, technical expertise, and carefully curated products, we help our customers create homes that are practical, enduring, personal, and deeply inspiring.
OUR MISSION
- To help customers make informed and confident lighting and home design decisions.
- To educate our community about the importance of thoughtful lighting design for visual comfort, well-being, accessibility, energy efficiency, ADA awareness, and Dark Sky responsibility.
- To support manufacturers and partners who value craftsmanship, responsible practices, their employees, and the environmental impact of what they produce.
- To source lighting, furniture, and home goods as responsibly and locally as possible, helping reduce environmental impact while supporting stronger regional economies.
- To offer high-quality, timeless, and functional products designed to last, reducing waste and encouraging more intentional consumption.
- To create spaces that feel warm, rooted, welcoming, and beautiful—spaces that improve daily life and inspire meaningful living.
- To make professional design knowledge approachable and accessible to homeowners, designers, builders, electricians, businesses, and the wider community.
- To help make our community more beautiful, one home and one project at a time.
OUR TEAM
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ISABEL (co-owner)
Isabel brings a background in architecture, interior design, urban design, and teaching to Ithaca Lights and home. She curates the showroom, works closely with customers on lighting and interior selections, and oversees the day-to-day direction of the business. Beyond the showroom, Isabel works with Zac on architecture, interiors, development, and design projects through KornerLot and Studio Boggs-Fernandez. She also teaches as a visiting lecturer at Cornell University and SUNY ESF. Thanks to life’s many exciting twists and opportunities, she wears quite a few hats. Originally from Puerto Rico, Isabel has also proudly called Ithaca home for many years. She loves travel, volleyball, art, yoga, and chocolate—not necessarily in that order, depending on the day. ZAC (co-owner)
Zac is a landscape architect, urban designer, builder, educator, and maker with a deep love of imagining and creating beautiful places and objects. He practiced for many years with Design Workshop in Denver before moving to Ithaca to pursue graduate studies at Cornell University. He later worked with the local landscape architecture firm TWMLA and now co-teaches with Isabel at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and the SUNY ESF Department of Landscape Architecture. Zac is also a co-creator of KornerLot Design & Development, Studio Boggs-Fernandez, and Ithaca Lights. Whether he is immersed in construction details, developing a new design, or perfecting a handcrafted wood-slab table, he approaches his work with creativity, curiosity, intuition, and heart—and is often covered in sawdust. A Colorado native, Zac remains a devoted Denver Broncos fan, although life in Upstate New York has also made room for the Buffalo Bills. |
CHERYL (store manager and brand new grandma!)
We truly would not exist without our beloved Cheryl. Her more than 25 years of lighting experience were a significant part of what inspired us to open Ithaca Lights. Cheryl began her lighting career in New York City and has since worked with homeowners, designers, builders, and electricians throughout the region. Her remarkable product knowledge, attention to detail, and ability to understand the technical and aesthetic needs of a project make her an invaluable resource for our customers. She is the life and light of the store—equal parts lighting expert, comedian, and problem solver. She also keeps the entire team happily supplied with a seemingly endless assortment of candy. JULIE (tech extraordinaire)
Julie joined Ithaca Lights in 2023 after a long career at Cornell University. Her first introduction to the store was as a lighting and ceiling-fan customer, giving her a firsthand understanding of the guidance and reassurance customers need when making decisions for their homes. An experienced home renovator herself, Julie brings patience, thoughtfulness, practical knowledge, and impressive technical ability to the showroom. Thanks to her careful work and Cheryl’s guidance, the fixtures on our walls and ceilings are continually refreshed, updated, and beautifully displayed. Outside the store, Julie enjoys fitness, board games, wine and craft beer tasting, Ithaca summers, and Purdue Boilermakers basketball. |
