California-based Minka Group, one of the country’s leading manufacturers of decorative lighting and accessories, has announced a multi-year licensing agreement with New York-based industrial-chic lighting designer Michael McHale to create new collections of high-end chandeliers, sconces, table lamps, and other lighting.
A renowned lighting designer in the luxury market, McHale’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Architectural Digest, among other prestigious publications.
The deal marks only the second licensing agreement for Minka. Tim Flannery, President of Minka Group, stated that “Minka is very pleased to announce our licensing agreement with Michael McHale. Michael is a versatile and inventive lighting designer and we were particularly interested in his ability to blend together unexpected industrial and glamorous elements to create truly original and memorable fixtures. His design philosophy aligns perfectly with our mission to offer our customers sophisticated lighting options that are both envelope-pushing and also timeless. We are looking forward to collaborating with Michael and together we already have some exciting things in development for later this year.”
McHale said of the collaboration “I’m really excited to be working with Minka on this next phase of my lighting journey. Even with the seemingly endless number of fixtures out there, lighting design is still an underdeveloped art form. There are so many great ideas and forms that haven’t been tried. And that was true even when our light sources were limited to conventional bulbs. With the advent of new LED technologies, the possibilities for innovative new lighting forms are just incredibly vast. I’m very excited to be a part of that creative conversation with the backing of such a major player in the lighting industry as Minka.”
David Graff, President and founder of SunGate Partners, Inc., a global licensing and branding consultancy representing leading designers, chefs, and brands in the home décor, food, media, and entertainment industries and who brokered the McHale/Minka deal, said, “Michael McHale is a special talent in the lighting decor industry. Not only is he an accomplished designer with a signature style that reflects modern trends, but also has a unique intellectual and business background which informs his creations. His partnership with Minka will introduce Michael’s exceptional creativity to a new and wider audience.”
For the first 15 years of his career, Michael McHale was an entertainment lawyer with a practice in London and New York City. In 2007, his career took an inspired right turn when he abruptly changed course and founded his eponymous lighting studio Michael McHale Designs. Since that time, McHale has been an important voice in industrial-chic lighting design and his work has been installed all over the world, with a client roster that includes celebrity chefs, U.S. senators, professional athletes, advertising magnates, and global finance oligarchs. In addition, he has designed signature works for Miami hotels, New York City galleries, Doha showrooms, and even Harley Davidson dealerships. McHale also created and built the largest chandelier on Broadway.
The first collections for the Minka/McHale license are anticipated to debut in June 2024 at Lightovation in Dallas. The collections will be available for distribution throughout Minka Group’s extensive network of 2,100 distributors, showrooms, and national accounts.
