Alison Berger

The success of Holly Hunt — both the designer and her eponymous empire of textile and furnishings showrooms — is based on instinct.

The Chicago-based Hunt trusts her own tastes, reflected in her signature lines of elegant, low-key furniture, lighting and fabrics. She also trusts her judgment about the wants of the buying public, and this savvy sensibility has allowed her to cultivate and market the work of a range of contemporary talents, from minimalists like Christian Liaigre to eccentrics like Christian Astuguevieille.

Hunt is a design world impresario — a prominent arbiter for stylish modern interiors and known foremost for fabrics, seating designs and light fixtures. Modern sophistication, attention to detail, and a desire to cultivate talented contemporary designers are at the crux of the company’s success.

Born in central Texas to schoolteacher parents, Hunt was a creative girl who made her own clothes and bickered with her mother about decor. After graduating from Texas Tech, Hunt worked as department-store buyer and costume jewelry designer before marrying and helping her husband build a multimillion dollar transport company. Her hobby was decorating their homes. After the two divorced, Hunt purchased a showroom in the Chicago Merchandise Mart in 1983. Within 10 years, she was winning applause for her understated designs, her lavish showroom parties and her eye for rising design stars. Liaigre was her first discovery. Correctly surmising that his pared-down furniture in dark wood would play well in the United States in the aftermath of the go-go ’80s, Hunt began marketing the French designer’s work in 1994.

Over the subsequent years Hunt has added a half-dozen showrooms and, following her own style barometer, has taken on other fresh talents, including glassmaker Alison Berger, French designer Christophe Pillet and couturier Ralph Rucci, making a foray into home design.

One constant over that time have been the aesthetics of Hunt’s own designs. Her fabrics — the first choice of many dealers when re-upholstering vintage seating — are understated, mixing muted colors and updates of classic patterns. Her furniture is simple and refined. As you will see on 1stDibs, the name Holly Hunt represents a sense of timelessness and sophistication.

The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.

Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.

Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat. 

Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.

As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.

There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation. 

With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.

The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.