Stone Manor Lighting’s scene-setters made in L.A.
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I’ve seen a lot of crummy landscape lighting while scouting gardens over the years. The worst resemble airport runways, with twin rows of bulbs along a central path. Then there are the matchy-matchy DIY light kits sold at big-box home centers and the erstwhile energy-efficient, solar-powered numbers that shine so dimly that you forget they’re there.
My visit last week to see the inventive, low-voltage outdoor lights manufactured by Malibu-based Stone Manor Lighting was another experience altogether. Stone Manor Lighting is the brainchild of artist Lance Lindsay, a former director of TV, film and commercial projects who knows a thing or two about theatrical lighting. Lindsay wanted garden fixtures that wouldn’t break if accidentally hit by a wayward soccer ball or poorly steered wheelbarrow. He also wanted them to be attractive rather than industrial-looking.
Lindsay engineered durable stainless steel and porcelain sockets and designed waterproof fixtures that don’t short out when it rains, earning multiple U.S. patents. With his wife, Aime, and a small staff he has grown an 18-year-old company whose offerings include artful, floral-inspired lights and outdoor lanterns in traditional and whimsical designs. Most of the components are manufactured in Los Angeles and assembled in Oxnard. You’ll find Stone Manor lights at Disneyland, the landmark Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, on film sets such as ‘Spider-Man 3’ and ‘Bewitched,’ not to mention in the gardens of actress Sarah Michelle Geller and Olympic ice skaters Scott Hamilton and Kristi Yamaguchi. That’s the Tiffany Evening Primrose light pictured here, with a honey opalescent stained glass shade and sculpted bronze leaves on a 27-inch stem ($312).
Stone Manor fixtures are a favorite of designers. I’ve seen them in award-winning gardens at the Philadelphia Flower Show and shows in San Francisco and Seattle. There’s a strong botanical influence in fixtures hand made of copper, solid bronze and stained glass. The pieces are illuminated by 18-watt bulbs and run on 12-volt power with a small transformer that you can plug into an outdoor socket.
Some have petal-shaped shades (flowers and buds) and graceful necks (stems) with copper or bronze cast leaves and tendrils at the base. When lighted at dusk, the opal, ruby, blue and amber glass tulips, day lilies and dragonflies are dreamy and romantic. The Burmese calla lily at right ($210) has a hand-blown flower light on a 28-inch stem.
The Mission- and Cotswold-style lanterns have a verdigris patina and glow with honey-colored glass. The English Cottage model, with 5.5-by-7-inch copper lantern on a 25-inch stem ($180), is pictured above.
“The caveat in lighting has always been never to show the source,” Aime Lindsay says. “Instead, we wanted to do something highly decorative and lavish quality material on our lights. Plus, the amber glow is pretty on plants.”
Prices range from $60 to $1,600. Check out Aime Lindsay’s Web tips on how to illuminate your garden without it looking like the runways at LAX.