In anticipation of our next major milestone – the launch of LightForm’s new conceptual showroom in Vancouver – we’re taking a moment to look back at how we got here. It all began nearly 30 years ago with a single lamp.
When Richard Assaly was preparing to start university, he received a $500 student loan, enough at the time to cover a semester’s tuition. But instead of spending it on textbooks, Richard bought the iconic Tizio desk lamp by German designer Richard Sapper.
It might have seemed like an impulsive splurge. But the Tizio was no ordinary lamp. Designed in 1972, it redefined what a desk lamp could be: completely adjustable and balanced on a counterweight system that allowed light to be directed with precision. Featuring one of the first halogen bulbs used outside of the automotive industry, the Tizio was a technical and aesthetic marvel. Today, it belongs in the Permanent Design Collection at MoMA in New York.
Richard didn’t just buy a lamp. He bought into an idea: that great design could change the way we live and work.
Four years later, he had 30 Tizios lighting up his apartment. He began going door-to-door to design firms, not just selling lamps but sharing a belief: that design has the power to transform.
That spark grew into something bigger. In 1997, Richard officially founded LightForm in Edmonton, setting out with a mission to bring innovative, design-forward brands to Canada’s architects and designers.
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