With a family long involved in the lamp business, sisters Katy Glenn Roe and Gracen Glenn Ashton have followed suit. Their online shade shop Sorella Glenn (Sorella is Italian for “sister”) offers fantastic options in bright, beautiful colors and patterns. We spoke to them to shed some light on tips, tricks and mistakes not to make when decorating your home.
How did your family get into the lamp business?
Our mother was selling antiques and noticed a lack of good lampshades available in Greenville, so she made the switch to selling lampshades. Shortly after that our father was asked to repair lamps and rewire chandeliers. He enjoyed staying busy in retirement, so this quickly became a new career for him. They do still have the space in The Rock House Antiques location, although my dad is now fully retired.
Why did you and your sister decide to start your online lampshade business?
Gracen is an interior designer who occasionally needed custom shades, and it was difficult to find people to make them. Then we wondered why there weren’t any colorful shades on the market to sell directly to consumers and designers. Sorella Glenn was hatched with the goal of offering quality, bespoke lampshades directly to the consumer
Tell us about some new lampshade trends for next year.
Colored, pleated and patterned shades are increasingly included in design schemes from top designers across the country, and this quickly translates into sales not just to designers, but also to homeowners.
Colors that are trending are oatmeal and pale, pale blue. Patterns that are popular are our Highlands leaf collection, the striped River Collection and the Fern collection. Highlands is new, and the others were selling so well that we added more colorways to them.
Are you designing your lampshades yourselves?
Yes. And all of them are made in the U.S.A.
What are you inspired by?
A common answer – but travel, definitely. Architecture, pattern, the colors of the sea, restaurant and hotel design all influence our palettes and interiors. We are, however, most inspired by other artists and designers. We love the thrill of finding an object that’s just really cool, or a new pattern from a fabric house. We wish we could make shades in every fabric!
Give us some of the most common mistakes people make with lamps/lighting.
Often the harp is too tall, and the shade is positioned too high over the base. This allows the socket to show. The shade should allow just a bit of the of the neck of the lamp to show, not any of the unsightly hardware. Also, we consider having a boring, plain paper shade on a great lamp a huge mistake. It is similar to having a bad frame on a nice piece of artwork. Additionally, it’s s mistake to have the harp in the wrong size for the lamp. Also, make sure the lampshade isn’t too large for the size of the lamp.
Website: www.sorellaglenn.com
Instagram: sorellaglenn
HOW TO TUTORIAL: https://sorellaglenn.com/pages/fitting-your-lamp-shade
