Western Contemporary Custom Lighting

Craftsman-inspired fixtures shine new light on Western contemporary style.

There’s a well-worn formula for contemporary style in the intermountain west that combines clean lines and simple geometric forms with frontier-inspired materials. Reclaimed woods, hand-hewn stone, sumptuous hides and fur-covered furnishings take center stage, with the deliberate use of bold scale and rich textures exuding an aesthetic of subtle sophistication. Often the decorative lighting seems an afterthought in these interiors, providing little more than a nod to shape and form.

Working with Hammerton on the decorative lighting package for a luxury Yellowstone Club home, the Bozeman-based interior design firm Varda Group took a very different approach. Lead designer Michelle Laskowski and her team cleverly pulled forward the clean lines and restrained details of the Arts & Crafts movement to reinforce a contemporary aesthetic, while firmly rooting it in classical design. The result is a series of boldly-scaled Craftsman styled fixtures that add a surprisingly fresh dimension to the familiar formula for western contemporary design.