Bret Englander, Daniel Wacholder and Nick Sheridan grew up surfing the waves and sailing along Laguna Beach, a Southern California coastal city that has a reputation as a creative and artistic hotbed. It is in this environment that the three friends hatched a plan–probably while surfing or enjoying the sunny So Cal weather–to start a design-driven lighting company whose products are made in the U.S.A.
And thus, Cerno Lighting was born, in 2009. Almost immediately, the company (and its products) was a hit with architects, designers and custom builders. The success–seemingly–was due to the division of labor and the different skills each man brought to the party. Daniel studied engineering (he is the director of operations and engineering), Nick studied architecture (he is the director of design), and Bret studied journalism (he is the director of sales and marketing). Their deep friendship and forward-thinking design are secrets to the company’s success.
Cerno is known for decorative and architectural lighting featuring hardwood–walnut, maple and oak are staples–brass, brushed aluminum, linen and glass. A few years ago, Cerno added its footprint with the acquisition of Siemon & Salazar, a brand that produces hand-blown glass lighting and vessels in Southern California.
The trio says Laguna Beach’s creative culture and its natural environment played a significant role in shaping the professional and aesthetic ideals that guide the company today.
“Our passion for design and manufacturing is fueled by a shared belief in the infinite power of human creativity,” the company says on its website. “We believe that each finished product that we produce is a celebration of the inventive minds and industrious hands that brought it to life. The process of taking an intangible concept and developing it into a fully resolved finished light fixture is intoxicating. One could liken it to an artist’s final stroke to complete a painting or a mechanic repairing the seemingly irreparable. It’s this visceral sense of accomplishment that inspires us to continue designing and building things.”
Design Vibes caught up with Bret to see how things are going and where things are headed.
Design Vibes: How did three surfer dudes come to start a lighting company?
Englander: Daniel, Nick, and I have been friends since we were young kids growing up in Laguna Beach. Our friendship always revolved around a shared love for adventure and building things. When we were kids, there was always a new project or adventure to go on. What was cool even back then was that within our shared interests, we all gravitated towards different parts of each project. Daniel, who studied engineering after high school, was a realist with the right balance of creativity and pragmatism. Nick was always drawing and sketching, and he went on to study architecture. I was less skilled at building or designing than either of them, but I loved the projects and was delegated tasks I could handle while always having a camera around my neck and chronicling what we were doing. I went on to study journalism. We all had different career paths after college. Nick was working in architecture, Daniel was running an engineering and manufacturing firm, and I was working for a large production builder. The different but complementary skill sets worked well for starting a business; we all had different areas of business development to focus on and respected one another’s opinions. Our processes from day one were highly collaborative but also relatively rigid about who was responsible for the different aspects of the business.
[ Read More: New Lodes, Paola Navone Light is Less Yawn, More Yacht ]
DV: What was your plan when you started?
Englander: Start a company where we could build products we were proud of making. We wanted to try to differentiate ourselves. Rather than looking at what was already doing well in the marketplace, we tried to figure out what was missing. At the time, we were using new technology and natural materials that were rarely used to make light fixtures. Today, there’s more competition, but we continue to innovate and stick to what we are good at, which is designing modern lights that balance utility, performance, and beauty. We make everything under one roof with a team of artisans and skilled craftspeople, which is what we were doing when the three of us were in a small industrial garage in the Laguna Canyon 16 years ago. We believe in staying true to our roots.
DV: Did anyone in the group have design experience, building experience, or business experience?
Englander: Yes, Nick was working in architecture and was constantly frustrated with the lack of clean modern light fixtures available. Daniel and I were both working in business but in very different capacities. I worked in acquisitions for a publicly traded company, and Daniel ran a boutique manufacturing and engineering firm. All of our previous experience was critical to help us hit the ground running.
DV: How did the process work from design to sale?
Englander: We collaborate a lot and find inspiration from different sources. Typically, we identify a type of product we want to design, which can be pretty vague, and then Nick goes off and starts riffing. Often, within a few days or a week, he is sharing scaled and material-accurate prototypes. After we determine we like something, the design and engineering phase can take anywhere from 1 month to 12 months, depending on the complexity and the size of the collection. After the handoff is made to sales and marketing, we tell the story about the new collection with our sales network.
DV: How long before you realized that you had something?
Englander: It was pretty quick that we realized we had the right chemistry to work well together, which might be the most important part of the early days of a start-up. It was about a year and a half before the market started to tell us that they liked our early designs. At our first trade show, Dwell on Design, 2010, we did not know if we were going to be validated or laughed out of the building. Fortunately, the designers and end-users who came to the show were stoked, and we sold quite a few lights.
DV: How has the company and the products changed from the early days?
Englander: In the early days, we were designing outside of any real sphere of influence. Which worked well then; the designs were provocative and more rigidly followed the modern design doctrines. Today, we are still having a lot of fun and guided by many of the same design principles, but we have 16 years of data and way more customer feedback, so we listen, and all of that makes its way into what we are bringing to market.
DV: Made in the USA is a strong component to your business. Do you think that helps with your customer base?
Englander: Yes, 100%. When people come to Cerno for the first time they share a lot of kind words about what they see. They often comment on the atmosphere and that the team looks like they are having fun making quality light fixtures in the United States. They comment on how much is happening under one roof and how it’s not chaotic but clean and orderly, with good music playing. Making products in the United States is so important to us. It’s not easy, but it’s beyond gratifying to see our talented team do what they do every day and enjoy their work and our customers appreciate that.
DV: Who are your clients–consumers or design professionals?
Englander: We work with designers, architects, lighting designers, consumers, and other design professionals.
DV: What is your most popular product?
Englander: We are lucky in that we do not have one clear winner. It changes from year to year, our pendants, flush mounts and sconces all do well and in any given year one of them could be the most popular.
DV: What’s ahead for your brand?
Englander: Keep having fun designing and making fresh new products. We acquired the incredibly talented Siemon and Salazar brand, known for its hand-blown glass lighting and vessels in 2022. The founders, Caleb Siemon and Carmen Salazar, remain creatively at the helm, and they are working on some stunning new products. So, there will be a lot of new glass in the future, among other designs by Nick, that will demonstrate Nick’s evolution. He’s so talented and only getting better.
