Arabela Marks 1st Anniversary, Enters Outdoor

Last May, lighting veteran Lee Nemeth launched Arabela Lighting and unveiled the initial product line during June Lightovation. Editor-in-Chief Linda Longo checks in with Nemeth to see how the company has evolved.

Linda Longo: What have been some of the greatest successes — and the greatest challenges — you’ve had over the past year?

Lee Nemeth: It has been a very exciting first year for Arabela Lighting. I would say our greatest success has been proving that Arabela is not just another new name in the market. We are a serious, design-driven lighting brand with the structure, product depth, and supply chain behind us to support our customers long-term.

Over the past year, we have built a strong sales representative network across the U.S., introduced the brand to retailers and designers, and received very encouraging feedback from customers who responded to our product design, craftsmanship, and overall value. For a new brand, earning that first level of trust is extremely important, and we are very grateful for the customers and reps who believed in us and supported us early on.

Another important milestone was expanding into a larger Dallas showroom in January. For a new business to get off the ground, that was a meaningful step. It reflected both our confidence in the market and the encouraging response we received from retailers and sales representatives during our first year.

The biggest challenge has also been what makes this journey exciting: building a brand from the ground up in a very competitive market. Like many new brands, the first year sometimes felt like building the airplane while flying it. But we have an experienced team, strong product support, and a very clear direction, and that made all the difference.

The economic environment, tariff uncertainty, and general caution in the retail market certainly created challenges, but we believe those challenges also helped us become more focused and disciplined. Our goal in the first year was not just to grow quickly, but to grow correctly. We wanted to establish the foundation for a brand that can serve the high-end decorative lighting market for many years to come.

LL: What are some of the changes that retailers who saw the debut last year will notice next month at Lightovation?

LN: Retailers who saw us last June will immediately notice that Arabela now has a larger showroom and a much broader presentation. We moved into a larger Dallas showroom, which allows us to show more product categories, more complete families, and a clearer expression of the Arabela brand.

The new showroom gives us the ability to tell the Arabela story in a more complete way — from statement chandeliers to coordinated families and now outdoor lighting. In our first showing, people saw the potential. This year, I think they will see a more refined and complete brand identity.

We have continued to develop our core decorative lighting collections, especially in chandeliers, pendants, sconces, and statement pieces. Many customers have responded very positively to our handcrafted glass, sculptural forms, unique glass coloration and designs inspired by architecture, art, and natural movement. That has helped us better understand what customers see as the “Arabela look.”

One important development is our introduction of outdoor lighting. The response has been very encouraging. We believe outdoor is a natural extension for us because many homeowners, designers, and retailers are looking for exterior lighting that feels more elevated and better connected to the overall design of the home.

You will also see more depth in product families. We are not only creating individual pieces; we are building collections that allow retailers and designers to present a more complete story to their customers. That is very important for showrooms, because they need products that are beautiful, but also easy to sell, easy to coordinate, and easy to specify.

LL: What are some of the developments that have occurred from an operational standpoint?

LN: We made several important investments during our first year. One of the biggest priorities was making sure that we could support customers properly after the initial excitement of a launch.

We have established warehouse support on both the East and West Coasts, which allows us to improve shipping speed and service coverage for customers in different regions. We have also strengthened our customer service and operations team so we can respond more quickly to product questions, order updates, after-sales needs, and general customer support.

Behind the scenes, we have continued to improve our product development process, inventory planning, and communication with our sales representatives. Because Arabela has strong product development and manufacturing resources behind the brand, we can move relatively quickly from market feedback to product improvement and new introductions.

For us, operations are part of the brand promise. Beautiful design gets a customer’s attention, but reliable service is what earns repeat business. We are very focused on both.

Our customers need to know that when they place an order, ask a product question, request support, or need help after the sale, there is a real caring team behind the brand. That is something we have worked very hard to build during our first year.

LL: What can Arabela customers expect for the remainder of 2026?

LN: Customers can expect Arabela to become more visible, more accessible, and even more supportive to our retail partners.

We will continue to introduce new designs, expand successful product families, and strengthen our inventory position. We are also putting more effort into marketing, social media, and brand communication. One of our goals is not only to introduce Arabela to more retailers and designers, but also to help create more interest from end-consumers — interest that can ultimately support our showroom partners.

We see our relationship with retailers as a partnership. We want to provide products that bring excitement to the showroom, but we also want to support sell-through with better images, better storytelling, better marketing tools, and stronger communication from our team and sales representatives.

Looking ahead to the third and fourth quarters, customers will see continued product development, stronger marketing support, and a clearer Arabela brand voice. We are still a young brand, but we are building with a long-term mindset.

Our message to customers is simple: we are here, we are committed, and we are going to keep getting better.

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