A product of the pandemic...
When Cheryl Shields lost her job due to pandemic closures, all of us in the community who had worked with Cheryl first hand felt the loss. With over 25 years of lighting experience under her belt and an incredible eye for detail, Cheryl had helped Zac and I - and many others in Upstate New York- make the perfect lighting selections for our individual project needs for years. After all, Cheryl is one of the few people around that has worked with the very best builders, electricians, and savvy homeowners in the region.
Meanwhile, Zac and I had always wanted to open our own store. At age 44, we thought, if not now, then when? On October 15, 2021, we signed a lease with the gracious Lambrou family for the old GreenStar Co+Op cooking classroom (and prior to that, a former car wash!) and began transforming the space. We’re happy to report that our store, Ithaca Lights, is now open for business, and houses a variety of lighting fixtures and homegoods to elevate your everyday life.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the space from the ground up, and worked with our friend- Sam Halton- to create the store we so proudly welcome you to today. We couldn’t have done this without the love and support of our friends and family. For example, our friends Kelly and Kenny advised us that walking into Ithaca Lights “should be like walking into one of your houses or projects, where people walk in and feel at home". We took this advice to heart, so when you walk into our store, you walk into our home away from home- greeted first thing by our handcrafted slab tables, adorned by some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants just above. Just around the corner, our kitchen showroom helps our clients pick out just the right type of lighting for their own kitchen needs. As you move throughout the store, you’ll find in every corner something new to amuse and inspire your own design decisions.
The intimate showroom footprint allows us to focus and display a curated collection of our very favorite pieces out of the literal thousands of options we have access to, via our catalogs and vendors. For this reason, we are creating an online store where you can build your own customized cart, and either shop on the spot or stop in at the store to receive our coveted SHOP LOCAL DISCOUNT! Please bring a check or cash to avoid the 3% credit card fee. And, as always, thank you for supporting our new local Ithaca store!
To learn more about us, visit kornerlot.com. To stay up to date on our latest projects, follow us on Instagram: @KornerLot
Meanwhile, Zac and I had always wanted to open our own store. At age 44, we thought, if not now, then when? On October 15, 2021, we signed a lease with the gracious Lambrou family for the old GreenStar Co+Op cooking classroom (and prior to that, a former car wash!) and began transforming the space. We’re happy to report that our store, Ithaca Lights, is now open for business, and houses a variety of lighting fixtures and homegoods to elevate your everyday life.
Zac, Cheryl, and I designed the space from the ground up, and worked with our friend- Sam Halton- to create the store we so proudly welcome you to today. We couldn’t have done this without the love and support of our friends and family. For example, our friends Kelly and Kenny advised us that walking into Ithaca Lights “should be like walking into one of your houses or projects, where people walk in and feel at home". We took this advice to heart, so when you walk into our store, you walk into our home away from home- greeted first thing by our handcrafted slab tables, adorned by some of our favorite chandeliers and pendants just above. Just around the corner, our kitchen showroom helps our clients pick out just the right type of lighting for their own kitchen needs. As you move throughout the store, you’ll find in every corner something new to amuse and inspire your own design decisions.
The intimate showroom footprint allows us to focus and display a curated collection of our very favorite pieces out of the literal thousands of options we have access to, via our catalogs and vendors. For this reason, we are creating an online store where you can build your own customized cart, and either shop on the spot or stop in at the store to receive our coveted SHOP LOCAL DISCOUNT! Please bring a check or cash to avoid the 3% credit card fee. And, as always, thank you for supporting our new local Ithaca store!
To learn more about us, visit kornerlot.com. To stay up to date on our latest projects, follow us on Instagram: @KornerLot
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MISSION
+ To light up your life with the perfect lighting fixtures, furniture, home goods, and rugs for your home.
VISION
+ To educate the public on the importance of appropriate lighting sources for optimal vision health, ADA & dark sky compliance.
+ To support brand partners that care about their employees and our planet. + To source lighting & other products as close to home as possible, thus decreasing environmental impact. + To provide high quality, practical, and beautiful fixtures, furniture, home goods & rugs thus reducing waste. + To inspire you and bring beauty to your life. |
OUR TEAM
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ISABEL FERNANDEZ (co-owner)
Isabel is a lover of all beautiful, design-related things. She is a landscape architect and an urban designer by trade who, due to life's many exciting offerings, wears many hats. At Ithaca Lights, she selects the products displayed at the store, helps customers and staff, and runs the daily ins and outs of the business. Outside of Ithaca Lights, she runs an array of successful rental properties, co-teaches at Cornell's College of Art, Architecture & Planning, works on various architectural design, interior design, and building projects, and co-creates custom wood slab tables with Zac at KornerLot. Isabel loves, above all, her family and friends, and the place that saw her grow into the amazing person she is today: Puerto Rico. As of 2008, Isabel has proudly added Ithaca, NY to that list. She also appreciates travel, volleyball, art, yoga, and chocolate. ZAC BOGGS (co-owner)
Zac is a native to Colorado, an avid Broncos fan, an amazingly talented Landscape Architect/Urban Designer, a builder, and a dad. He practiced for years with Design Workshop in Denver, CO, where he met Isabel. They both moved to Ithaca to complete graduate studies at Cornell. Zac then worked for years with local Landscape Architecture firm TWMLA. Together with Isabel, he co-teaches at Cornell's College of Art, Architecture & Planning, and is the co-creator of KornerLot Design & Development LLC, where (just like Isabel) he also wears many hats! Zac is a visceral and passionate designer who loves the process of designing and building, construction sciences, working wood slab tables to perfection, hiking, caring for his family, and spending time with friends and loved ones. Zac is constantly creating beautiful things! Zac and Isa share their lives with their amazing daughters: Sofía & Mia, and a freakishly adorable miniature schnauzer named Jupiter. |
CHERYL SHIELDS (store manager)
We would not exist without our beloved Cheryl! Cheryl's 25+ years of experience in all things lighting is what led us to open Ithaca Lights. She has worked at every lighting showroom Ithaca has had to offer, including Cooper Friedman. Cheryl began her career in lighting in NYC before moving upstate to begin her family in Genoa, NY, where she continues to live with her husband (and electrician) Randy- a.k.a., King Richard. Cheryl has two lovely grown kids and two fabulous dogs that often lock themselves in her car. She is the life and light of the store, and keeps us all sugared up by providing an endless supply of candy. MORGAN RAIRIGH (genius addition to our team)
New to the area, Morgan is a professional artist who is working at Ithaca Lights part-time while simultaneously establishing her own studio. Prior to joining our team, Morgan graduated from Alfred University in 2017, after which she began working for her mentor, master potter John Fulwood, at Kissimmee River Pottery. Morgan worked in the ceramics industry for 5 years as an instructor, potter, and programming director prior to transitioning into a short career in advertising and marketing. Morgan met her favorite clients, Isabel and Cheryl, while working in the marketing sphere, and immediately fell in love with everything that Ithaca Lights has to offer. Morgan shares her life with her amazing husband, Luke, and their incredibly charming Chocolate Lab, Sadie Mae. They just recently relocated to their farmhouse homestead in Freeville, NY. |