A Labor of Love ( & light!)
We talk to Pippa and Ben, the founders of Quittner, a design practice, workshop, and retail store in Germantown.
Lighting is often the last piece of a design project. Not for Ben and Pippa, Founders of Quittner, a lighting and homewares design practice. In fact, it’s through a shared love of history and lighting that they have come to operate their store and workshop on Route 9G in Germantown.
On any given day, you might find Ben designing a sconce or towel holder, or restoring or repairing antique lights for locals and interior designers alike. Or perhaps you’ll find them collaborating on their column for the Magazine ANTIQUES, where they have written the Object Lesson column since 2019.
“Curiosity is at the core of everything good we do” explains Pippa. She praises her husband and business partner’s unique ability to “pull from multiple sources of inspiration, contextualize all of it in history, and move forward.”
Ben and Pippa come from an academic background and their path to design is rooted in history.
They bring to their work a deep appreciation of the past and firsthand experience of working with the materials they use in the ‘field’ — i.e., in old houses. (Ben and Pippa met as children at a summer camp in the Adirondacks, where they also learned such skills as dying, weaving, woodworking, and ceramics.)
Through Quittner, they take the best in terms of materiality and craftsmanship to create something new that will fit seamlessly into an older home or ground a modern one. Porcelain, for example, is a go–to material for them for its warmth. When they find fixtures and hardware that didn’t become the predominant model or technology of the times, they dig deeper to see if and how they can improve upon it. When Pippa hears Ben say, “No one makes this anymore,” she knows he’s already imagining a new design.
As Ben and Pippa (and many restaurateurs) know, lighting can be a powerful way to create a mood and evoke a feeling in a space. “We’re always thinking about what the light will do. So often that essential piece is not really considered until the very end of a project,” Ben explains. “You don’t get to see the light illuminate a room.” They advise asking for a video of a light being turned on and off whenever purchasing online.
In their experience, it’s better to under light than over light and bring lighting into the design process sooner than later. They like to use pools of light where possible and consider how the lighting might change throughout the day. Whenever possible, lights should be on dimmers. Think about throwing light up, down, to the side. Hardwire limitations shouldn’t get in the way of what you want to do. There are plug-in ceiling lights and sconces, and in their workshop they specialize in modifying fixtures — both their own designs and older pieces — for clients.
Tala light bulbs are their light bulbs of choice and they carry them at the shop. One of the beautiful things about Tala bulbs is that they don’t have any labels or writing on them. Most importantly, they have the color frequency of older incandescent bulbs, which can be hard to find with LED bulbs.
Ben and Pippa think of lighting as jewelry you wear everyday. Their work attracts designers working with big budgets, but they’ve made a concerted effort to be accessible to all. You can walk in with a broken lamp and they’ll test it, repair it, or help you choose a replacement. You also might inadvertently learn a thing or two about lighting, local happenings, or regional history.
Their most recent collection, the Palatine Collection is a tableware collection inspired by ceramic fragments that date back to the arrival of the Palatines in the 1710s that were found in archaeological digs just a few miles from their shop. The cup, bowl, coupe, and plate are hand-cast in porcelain by their team, and a portion of the sale of each piece benefits the Friends of Historic Germantown, a 501c3. New lighting will be available in the fall. They also offer a series of community events, which are free and open to the public. You can visit their website and sign up for their newsletter here.
Upstate Down Q&A
With Pippa & Ben from Quittner
UD: What’s your favorite farm or farm stand in the Hudson Valley?
P&B:We love the self-serve farmstand at Hover Farm in Germantown, a sixth-generation farm, for meat and dairy.
UD: What’s your favorite restaurant?
P&B: We're really excited about the new spot at the Central House Inn — Universal Café and Bar. Chef Leslie Carr-Avalos grew up in Red Hook and built her career in San Francisco before moving back to run the inn and restaurant with her sister, Julia. We highly recommend their homemade potato chips and dip to start.
UD: What do you love most about your home?
P&B: We're breaking ground on our future home this summer but find inspiration from our property every day. A former pear orchard that was neglected for decades has told us new stories with every layer we peel back. These stories have deeply informed our intentions with the land and the home we'll be building.
