Allied Maker Pendant

Allied Maker lighting designs are marked by the craft tradition — each elegant pendant, sconce and ceiling light is designed by Allied founder Ryden Rizzo. The parts are made by hand in the company's studio on the North Shore of Long Island, and Allied then partners with local makers to bring their offerings to market.

Allied Maker was established in 2012 as an independent study project while Rizzo was attending the Parsons School of Design. Working out of his parents’ garage on Long Island, Rizzo created cutlery, kitchen utensils and lighting fixtures. In a way, he was following in the footsteps of his father — a jewelry designer — and sought to build things with his hands.

Rizzo taught himself metalworking and woodworking, and began to create furnishings and post them to his project’s website. When a lighting fixture he’d crafted in brass became popular online, it quickly became apparent that Rizzo could open a design and manufacturing studio.

"The freedom to be able to iterate and come up with new ideas has always been at the heart of it, and that’s why Allied Maker has become so successful," Rizzo told Business of Home.

Allied’s inaugural design client was Dorothee Meilichzon of Chzon Agency, a successful French firm that specializes in hospitality properties, and the studio had its first showing at New York’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in 2015. Rizzo's wife Lanette eventually came on board as the creative director.

In 2018, Allied introduced a new lighting collection characterized by sharply geometric designs. The line, which is emblematic of the studio’s focus on quality materials and superior craftsmanship, includes four versatile fixtures — the Grand Aperture 4, Tri Cone, Contour Wall Lamp 22 and Concentric 15. There are handmade glass globe diffusers, an integration of domestic hardwoods such as walnut and white oak, and bodies of bent metal. Allied launched the collection at what was then the Architectural Digest Design Show. Also in 2018, in collaboration with architect Marshall Shuster, the company opened its first showroom in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood.

Today Allied Maker’s clients include high-end New York City restaurants, and the studio’s quietly sophisticated fixtures can even be found in Gwyneth Paltrow's home in Montecito, California.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Allied Maker lighting and decorative objects.

Chandeliers — simple in form, inspired by candelabras and originally made of wood or iron — first made an appearance in early churches. For those wealthy enough to afford them for their homes in the medieval period, a chandelier's suspended lights likely exuded imminent danger, as lit candles served as the light source for fixtures of the era. Things have thankfully changed since then, and antique chandeliers and pendant lights are popular in many interiors today.

While gas lighting during the late 18th century represented an upgrade for chandeliers — and gas lamps would long inspire Danish architect and pioneering modernist lighting designer Poul Henningsen — it would eventually be replaced with the familiar electric lighting of today.

The key difference between a pendant light and a chandelier is that a pendant incorporates only a single bulb into its design. Don’t mistake this for simplicity, however. An Art Deco–styled homage to Sputnik from Murano glass artisans Giovanni Dalla Fina, with handcrafted decorative elements supported by a chrome frame, is just one stunning example of the elaborate engineering that can be incorporated into every component of a chandelier. (Note: there is more than one lighting fixture that shares its name with the iconic mid-century-era satellite — see Gino Sarfatti’s design too.)

Chandeliers have evolved over time, but their classic elegance has remained unchanged.

Not only will the right chandelier prove impressive in a given room, but it can also offer a certain sense of practicality. These fixtures can easily illuminate an entire space, while their elevated position prevents them from creating glare or straining one’s eyes.

Certain materials, like glass, can complement naturally lit settings without stealing the show. Brass, on the other hand, can introduce an alluring, warm glow. While LEDs have earned a bad reputation for their perceived harsh bluish lights and a loss of brightness over their life span, the right design choices can help harness their lighting potential and create the perfect mood. A careful approach to lighting can transform your room into a peaceful and cozy nook, ideal for napping, reading or working.

For midsize spaces, a wall light or sconce can pull the room together and get the lighting job done. Perforated steel rings underneath five bands of handspun aluminum support a rich diffusion of light within Alvar Aalto's Beehive pendant light, but if you’re looking to brighten a more modest room, perhaps a minimalist solution is what you’re after. The mid-century modern furniture designer Charlotte Perriand devised her CP-1 wall lamps in the 1960s, in which a repositioning of sheet-metal plates can redirect light as needed.

The versatility and variability of these lighting staples mean that, when it comes to finding something like the perfect chandelier, you’ll never be left hanging. From the natural world-inspired designs of the Art Nouveau era to the classic beauty of Paul Ferrante's fixtures, there is a style for every room.

With designs for pendant lights and chandeliers across eras, colors and materials, you’ll never run out of options to explore on 1stDibs — shop a collection today that includes antique Art Deco chandeliers, Stilnovo chandeliers, Baccarat chandeliers and more.