A Houston Designer Gets National Magazine Love

Houston artist/designer Liz Marsh debuted a collection of graphic black-and-white lamps at the Architectural Digest Design Show in New York City in March. They caught the eye of AD editors, who included them in a website post of “10 Gems” discovered at the show.

“I would never have imagined being included in a list with Damien Hirst,” says Marsh.

She produced a line of découpaged lamps in the ’90s for Brunschwig & Fils and Baker Furniture; she returned to lighting design two years ago after a hiatus that included stints managing Jimmy Choo and Bottega Veneta boutiques in Houston and six years in Paris spent exporting antiques and leading shopping tours.

Her three collections are inspired by Parisian style. The black-and-white lamps from her Pops collection were sparked by striped awnings at the Palais Royal in Paris. Old Money is a hipper version of the chalked white and basalt of Wedgwood; the climbing vines hearken back to her house in Paris. Stoneware lamps in white, black, and gray from her Paris Now collection contrast with the splendor of 19th-century Haussmann-era apartments. The lamps are crafted in Texas from hand-blown glass and stoneware, with hand-turned wood bases and gold-gilt or silver-leaf caps.

Marsh does the verre églomisé (reverse painting on glass) herself. The shades are also custom-made, including one in lacquered paper for Pops.

“To me, they are functional works of art,” says Marsh, who customizes colors, patterns, materials, and sizes on request. Liz Marsh Designs $695 to $1,900, at Longoria Collection, Shabby Slips; lizmarshdesigns.com.