Danielle Chiprut uses lighting to tell the stories of her clients and their homes. She…
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Designer Debrief: Danielle Chiprut
Danielle Chiprut uses lighting to tell the stories of her clients and their homes. She tells Style Editor Julie A. Palm about her lighting philosophy and what fixtures are energizing her designs.
By Julie A. Palm
Danielle Chiprut says “lighting is the star of the show” in her firm’s interior design projects. And these days, she’s excited by the mini flush-mounts, cordless rechargeables and sculptural floor lamps that bring freshness to spaces.
Chiprut is principal designer of Danielle Rose Design Co., a boutique interior design firm she founded on Long Island, New York, about six years ago. Her seven-person team focuses on residential whole-home projects, including new builds and renovations, especially remodels of historic homes, in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
“Lighting is at the top of our priority list” for any design project, Chiprut says. “… We’re really thinking about it from the second we walk into the home. Where are we getting natural light? What do we need to supplement? Where do we want to draw the eye? … When I first started (in design), lighting was one of my top interests. I loved the idea of decorative fixtures and how they integrate into the home and how we can create layered lighting. … It’s in every one of our presentations and it’s something we hold very dear to our studio.”
Chiprut and her team talk frequently about lighting on social media channels, helping to educate the firm’s clients on the subject. In initial meetings, clients will often mention a dislike for overhead or recessed lighting — and she uses her initial questions to discern more specific needs.
“Sometimes the husband, will say, ‘I need to turn on all the lights. I like it to be bright enough to do surgery in the kitchen.’ But then the wife will say, ‘I don’t like to turn on any overhead lights. I’ll sit with one lamp on for the whole day.’” It’s part of Chiprut’s job, she says, to use a lighting plan to bridge those differences.
“So, flexibility is key when we’re designing lighting packages,” she explains. Given its importance to her interior designs and the need for hard wiring early in the construction or renovation process, lighting is a priority in any Danielle Rose Design Co. budget.
“We protect that budget because we want that budget to be full and lovely,” Chiprut says.
Current favorites
Chiprut thinks mini flush-mounts are a great way to update spaces where recessed lighting is the norm. “Say there are high hats above the sink,” she says. “We can replace those with two mini flush-mounts and that makes it look updated without having to get into the walls. It’s a simple replacement. We’ve been doing that as a secret weapon as we design homes that are just furnishings (projects).”
Mini flush-mounts, Chiprut says, are also a good solution for wallpapered or colorfully painted ceilings, saving the hassle of having to paint recessed lights to blend in. “So, we’re making (the mini flush-mounts) a star of the show versus hiding (the lighting),” she says.
Chiprut is such a fan, she recently replaced all the overhead lights in her design studio with mini flush-mounts.
She is also incorporating a lot of cordless rechargeables, especially those from Pooky, into her interiors.
“We love them so much,” she says. “We’ll style them into bookcases. We’ll style them onto kids’ nightstands, and then they can move them around their rooms. There are so many places for them. For the most part, the scale is on the smaller side so they’re not the statement piece. They’re a little ‘quieter,’ but they come with a lot of personality in their look and feel.”
What can make an interesting statement is an oversized floor lamp, Chiprut notes. She likes them as a sculptural element in a corner. And with today’s side tables shrinking in diameter, a floor lamp is a good alternative to a table lamp.
“We’ll do a chaise lounge with a little side table and a reading (floor) lamp, something that has an adjustable arm that can go up and down — more of a library lamp, that kind of vibe,” she says. “… It makes a really pretty vignette.”
Like many interior designers, Chiprut sources frequently from some of the industry’s large lighting vendors, but also appreciates smaller vendors like Victoria Morris, a Los Angeles-based potter who, Chiprut says, “does beautiful hand-thrown pendants, lamps and sconces.
“It just feels like something that you don’t get from the bigger companies — much more tactile, more imperfect,” she adds.
Chiprut is also a fan of New York-based In Common With. “We love them. They do a bunch of blown-glass lighting, ceramic pendants, things like that,” she says. And Chiprut appreciates the lighting at Regina Andrew Detroit, particularly the company’s finishes and its emphasis on materiality.
Lighting as storytelling
When choosing lighting, Chiprut isn’t just specifying a brand or specific fixture, she’s using lighting as a “passageway to the whole design,” she explains.
“There are projects where lighting is more traditional and fits with a historic home and you just kind of understand that it has the pleated shade, the unlacquered brass and these little decorative features. It helps us tell that story to the client,” she says. “Whereas we just finished a new-build beach house that has these ceramic shades and more earthy materiality and that helps us tell that story.
“I don’t know if I’m unique in that way,” she says, “but lighting for projects really truly tells the whole story of our client and what we want to accomplish for them.”
Photo credit: Raquel Langworthy Photography
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