Johnson Art Studio

My wife and I found Roy’s work while searching for a new light fixture for our remodeled kitchen. Our architect recommended we visit local lighting stores near our home in Berkeley, CA. It was here we found one fixture that stood out from the rest, a Ceiling Mounted light. We learned it was created by Roy. We ordered it and his creation was ready yesterday. We spent a few days vacationing in Monterey and finished our trip stopping at the Studio to pick up our new light. We were promptly greeted by Roy. He gave us loads of time talking and responding to our questions about his professional development, ideas of empowerment of his coworkers, hiring locally, and examples of his varied works of art/​lighting, using glass and steel. Johnson Studio is a national treasurer in our backyard. we will always look to Roy’s work for lighting for my home.

As a local architect, I specify Johnson lights all the time! They are beautiful, finely crafted, and locally made! The lights go with many different styles of architecture and interiors. I would *highly* recommend them– just be prepared for a long lead time!

I called them at about noon PS with a question about one of their fixtures, and the phone was answered by a woman with a bit of an edge in her voice who informed me that they were NOT open on Saturdays but, acting like she was doing me a big favor, volunteered to ask the guy who was there about my question. My question, a simple one, was whether a 2′ x 3″ rectangular junction box would go with the fixture. She came back to the phone and said that the guy said yes, it would go with the fixture, as long as what I’d described was really a junction box and not a switch box. I noted that I knew the difference between the two. She said she was just the messenger. I said, in a light and still-​pleasant tone, thinking that I was making a little joke, «Well I may be a woman but i know the difference between a switch box and a junction box.» She, with an even greater edge in her voice, said «I’m getting a little offended. I’m going to hang up now. Is there anything else you need?» I was taken aback. She was offended? What about the customer? My guess: these people are so artsy, politically correct, and generally full of themselves that they cannot bear the slightest criticism, even when offered, as in this case, in a lighthearted way.
Furthermore, their fixtures aren’t great. The glass finishes, in particular, look dated and their designs lack freshness in many cases.
PS – There’s a typo: that should be 2″ (not 2′) x 3″.

I’ve shopped here a few times and the lights and the customer service are fantastic. everything there is made to order and you can even order custom fixtures. the sales people were very knowledgeable and it made my shopping experience very enjoyable. the lights look beautiful in my new house – very high quality craftsmanship. A++ definitely recommended over the other lighting studios in the area. their website is
. I’d recommend going there first to see what they have to offer then going in to see the real thing.

The Boy and I recently shacked up in a gorgeous little house in Santa Cruz. I won’t even attempt to cover the sketchiness of the previous owners here (since clearly that has nothing to do with the nice folks at Johnson Art Studio), but in one of their classier moves they swapped out the decent light fixtures in the kitchen and dining room and replaced them with cheap, tacky little flush mounts that threw off the classy mojo of my abode. This unpleasant little surprise transformed me into a woman obsessed with light fixtures, as in finding the perfect ones ASAP.
Turns out that my Mama had actually purchased a fixture here years ago, and in perusing their website they appeared to have some really unique offerings that were cool without being overly funky. Levi, the chatty guy who mans the shop, has no qualms about talking you through every option imaginable in terms of building your own customized fixtures, so brace yourself for a long visit. You can choose between multiple different types of metal, colors for the glass, and a bunch of other little options to make this your dream light fixture. If I were of higher financial means (ie. not practically broke after purchasing a house in SC) I might be more inclined to drop somewhere in the neighborhood of $ 700 by actually ordering a fixture, since they really are amazing. Luckily they had almost exactly what I wanted as a floor sample for about half the price, so I went with that! Levi loves to promote the «bargain alley» where they have an assortment of samples/​excess for quite reasonable prices given the quality of the workmanship. He also hooked us up with a discount for ordering multiple items once we tacked on a couple fixtures for the yard, which was a nice touch to convince us to buy bulk on a budget.
My only annoyance (other than the wealthy person envy all those super expensive fixtures inspired) was that we had to call a couple times in order to track down our custom outdoor fixtures. The level of customer service was definitely a notch higher BEFORE the sale, but to some extent that’s to be expected.