Lighting runs in David Littman’s blood. After witnessing the debut of the fluorescent bulb at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, his grandfather, William Littman, started his own light fixture company, which David’s father eventually took over. Though David was planning on going into investment banking, his father encouraged him to follow in the family footsteps. “[He] stopped me and said, ‘David, I know you, and I think you’d be best served being your own boss. I want you to look at a business that I think has potential.’ And I went to look at this little lighting company called Active Specialty, in Newburgh, New York,” he tells host Dennis Scully on the latest episode of The Business of Home Podcast. “I contemplated it for three or four weeks, whether I was going to do banking or I was going to go into this little lighting company. Ultimately, I decided to try lighting.”

In 1995, after running that company for a decade, Littman acquired a larger one and expanded into creating more high-end products. In the process, he had his own lightbulb moment and continued to expand, acquiring companies under the name Hudson Valley Lighting Group. Three decades later, the brands in the HVLG stable include Troy Lighting, Corbett Lighting, Mitzi, CSL, and the recently acquired Sonneman and Schoolhouse.

The acquisition of Schoolhouse sets HVLG up to move beyond lighting: Littman plans to revitalize the recently bankrupted Portland brand—textiles, hardware and all. It may signal a bigger shift. “We do want to control more of the home. We want to give our design community and our retailers an opportunity to buy more from us than just lighting if they want to,” he says. “We’ll learn more about categories that we want to get more aggressive in trying to do acquisitions in. I’m 63, and as long as it’s fun and my team really keeps it fun for me, I’ll just keep doing this. Just keep building. I’m a much better buyer of things than a seller of things.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Littman discusses why the lighting business is leaving China, why he doesn’t plan on opening dozens of showrooms across the country, and what qualities distinguish a successful lighting brand.

Crucial insight: Littman has learned that the way to stay ahead of the ever-increasing dupe culture is to constantly put out new and innovative product (the company as a whole launches about a thousand new items every year). “You’re never the most respected business in any industry when you’re a follower,” he says. “People want to do business with leaders. People want to do business with innovators. The guys who come in and make a 90 percent replica of an item that we launched three years ago aren’t that interesting to most people. Our dealers have been very loyal to us. Our customers have been very loyal to us. We just continue building through fresh development. Newness is what keeps things exciting.”

Key quote: “The important thing is to know who you are, what you’re good at, your strengths [and] weaknesses—to wade into your strengths and stay away from your weaknesses to the best you can, or hire people to fill that in for you. We’re not great at commodities. It’s just not what my company does. Our factories aren’t great at commodities, [they] are great at making beautiful things.”

This episode is sponsored by Ernesta and Resource Furniture. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The Thursday Show

Host Dennis Scully and BOH executive editor Fred Nicolaus discuss the biggest news in the design world, including a Roman and Williams lawsuit, why home stocks are tanking, and the end of the metaverse. Later, editor Benjamin Reynaert joins the show to talk about his new book, The Layered Home.

This episode is sponsored by Loloi and Newport Brass. Listen to the show below. If you like what you hear, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.