Local lamp-maker aspires to bringing style and colour back into home decor

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Ryan Kwiatkowski has always loved watching design shows. However, as he and his husband Alain Bouchard began buying and renovating houses, something about these TV programs didn’t sit right with him.  

Kwiatkowski noticed that just about every show promoted the same trendy décor: white surfaces, pale walls, lots of chrome. Homeowners who deviated from that style and used lots of vibrant colours were often mocked.  

As a graphic artist and lifelong colour fan, he found that irritating. Twelve years ago, his annoyance grew when he realized most décor stores also favoured bland neutrals. “When I started redecorating a bedroom, I couldn’t find any personality, any colour,” he remembers. “So, I thought, ‘To hell with this. I’m going to make my own lamp, if I can.’” 

He began by contacting a seamstress to learn how to build a fabric lampshade and started working with an electrician as well. He named his first finished lamp Eleanor. (To this day, he names every one of his lighting fixtures and creates an evocative story or poem for each.)  

At first, Kwiatkowski didn’t intend to sell his lamps, but someone admired Eleanor in his home and commissioned him to build a custom lighting fixture. Through word of mouth, the business grew. 

These days, Kwiatkowski makes lamps, sconces and the occasional chandelier, both on commission and to sell off the shelf through Kwiat Designs Artistic Lighting and Art House. That’s his gallery and studio in tiny Newboro, Ontario, about 120 kilometres southwest of Ottawa.  

He says people often assume that he makes a lampshade first and then builds a base to match, but he explains that the process usually works in reverse. “A base is just as important, if not more important, to me than the shade itself, because [that’s] where the heart is, where the idea comes from,” he says. “The shade is the hat. It’s kind of the finishing touch that brings it all together.” 

Kwiatkowski makes bases from a wide range of materials, from mannequin pieces to blown glass, which he picks up at antiques shops and estate sales, and on overseas trips. “I never look at anything the way that it is. A bowl is far more than a bowl to me now.”  

Even though the base is the foundation of each piece, Kwiatkowski now finds learning about fabric—”the way that it stretches, the way that it fades, the way that you can manipulate it and fold it, and just the plethora of things to do with fabric”—the most interesting part of the process. 

He and Bouchard lived in Paris for four years, and they returned to Canada with lots of beautiful textiles. Now, an enormous armoire in his studio is filled with them.  

The armoire came from the house next door, an 1884 mansion that the couple bought in 2025. When the commercial property next door to the house became vacant, Kwiatkowski suddenly had the chance to open an art studio/gallery. 

He and Bouchard renovated the space, a task that included adding stairs to the loft and installing clever storage systems. For instance, large items destined to become lamp bases now hang on a high wall. Kwiatkowski fishes them down using a hook on a long pole. 

His lighting fixtures are available on the Kwiat Designs website, and he’s shipped pieces as far afield as Chicago. However, he urges people to come to the gallery if they can, because illumination shows the pieces at their best.  

The gallery also sells works by other local artists. Kwiatkowski meets many of them at Fantasy in the Forest, a twice-yearly art show about a half-hour’s drive from Newboro. He focuses on unusual pieces not widely carried in other galleries, such as glass pieces by Burnstown artist Bettina Baum and whimsical sculptures by Fantasy in the Forest co-founder Jamie Brick. “I do want those people that push the boundaries.” 

Kwiatkowski aims to carry items at all sorts of prices, and he encourages everyone to drop in, even if they’re just looking. “I want people to come in and go ‘wow’ and take pictures and make it a trip, make it an experience, and leave without or leave with,” he says. “Just come in and have fun.” 

He enjoys chatting with customers by day, then working on his creations by night. “I only build in the middle of the night, for the most part,” he says. Good music is a must. A cup of coffee or a glass of wine doesn’t hurt, either. 

Inspiration comes from many sources—from the style of Hollywood icons like Marilyn Monroe, perhaps, or a smell that triggers a childhood memory. The last thing to coalesce is the lamp’s name. “The name comes from all of that together, and I never name it until I turn it on.” 

Laura Byrne Paquet writes about day trips and weekend getaways from Ottawa at OttawaRoadTrips.com.