Workstead’s three principals—Stefanie Brechbuehler, Ryan Mahoney, and Robert Highsmith—met while studying together at the Rhode Island School of Design, but it wasn’t until 2009 that Highsmith and his now-wife Brechbuehler launched their Brooklyn, New York studio. (An outpost in Hudson, New York recently opened as well.) For Swiss-born Brechbuehler, it was her work under the prolific Michael Graves, who built a philosophy and business model around crafting both spaces and products that inspired her to conceive a firm that approached design from a holistic sensibility, she says.
A year later, Mahoney joined the team to handle project design—one of which being the career-defining Wythe Hotel in Brooklyn. Highsmith, inspired by the hotel’s former factory past, created Workstead’s first product: a chandelier for his and Brechbuehler’s parlor apartment. The piece showcases “the flexibility and simplicity of early bench-made lighting in America,” says Highsmith, and became the studio’s bestselling industrial chandelier from its debut collection.
Today, Workstead is “often inspired to create lighting fixtures that become central characters in our client’s projects,” Mahoney says. Look no further than the custom bedside Orbit fixture, which radiates a warm glow from a single touchpoint and originated from its Rivertown Lodge project in Hudson. Craftsmanship with “materials that could speak to the history of the original property” is essential, says Highsmith, who typically uses oak, marble, brass, bronze, and cast iron to form striking lighting designs.
Debuting last May during NYCxDesign, Chamber features “sculptural metal shrouds that conceal or reveal light by degree,” says Highsmith. “We like to add analog elements to our lighting, so each piece in this collection can be easily adjusted depending on the atmosphere you want to create.”
Workstead’s fixtures are setting the mood in many hospitality projects, including some of Soho House’s newest properties and boutique concepts across the U.S. Still, “it’s design across all scales,” Highsmith says, “that ultimately keeps us creatively engaged.”
