The Business Journal News Network and Berkshire Bank announced that Meyda Lighting has received the 2018 Legacy Award. The award celebrates businesses in the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York that have created a legacy in their community through time, talent and resources. Meyda Lighting was honored for making a positive impact where they work and live, today, and for the next generation.
"Receiving the Legacy Award truly reflects our level of community involvement, respect for the arts and education systems, and dedication towards a qualified, educated workforce,” says Meyda Lighting Production Manager Chester Cohen. “It means a great deal to the Cohen family, and reflects the dedication and excellence of our Meyda family of employees which makes our family of loyal customers possible. We truly love giving the client that satisfied feeling each time they flip the light switch on.”
“We didn’t start out as a business,” says Meyda Lighting President Robert Cohen. “My mother (Ida) was tired of looking at ‘vintage cars’ in our backyard which my father (Meyer) promised he would restore one day. While waiting for the promised restoration day to arrive, my mother suggested that Meyer install a stained glass window to block the view. My dad was retired and a master inventor, so he and my mother took a course in making stained glass windows in 1974."
“My parents had fun making stained glass windows and lamps in our basement,” Robert Cohen continued. “Our growth was spurred by an interested in Tiffany designs that swept the country in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1995, we purchased the Quality Bent Glass Company, which created custom lighting fixtures including the famous Coca Cola chandelier originally supplied to Louis Comfort Tiffany’s studio in New York City.
In the late 1990s, Meyda bought Mecco Art, a metal art studio, and in 2009, Meyda acquired 2nd Ave Lighting to expand the metal lighting program on the commercial and residential side of business.
"Our development has come from a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. One day we’re manufacturing a 6,000-pound chandelier that stands 11 feet high and has a diameter of 35 feet (the world’s largest freestanding LED chandelier that Meyda designed, engineered and installed in the Stanley Theater in Utica),” continued Robert Cohen, “and the next day we could receive an order for a 65,000-square-foot home project in need of dozens of custom fixtures."
"We keep expanding our manufacturing space to accommodate the growing demand for customized lighting,” explained Director of Hospitality Marketing Max Cohen. He notes that the company works with a variety of material including aluminum, bronze, brass, copper, textiles, acrylics, wood and even stone, to support the manufacturing of lighting product.
