Quebec-based lighting brand Luminaire Authentik has opened a substantially larger Toronto showroom in the King East Design District, giving the growing Canadian manufacturer a new platform for retail sales, professional collaboration and further expansion.
Located at 170 King Street East, the showroom replaces the company’s smaller boutique on Queen Street East in Leslieville. The new space is approximately four times larger and places Luminaire Authentik within one of Toronto’s best-established concentrations of furniture, lighting and interior design businesses.
The opening comes as Luminaire Authentik prepares for further growth outside Quebec. Founder and designer Maude Rondeau said the company is searching for a retail location in Vancouver, while Quebec City is also part of its expansion plans.
For Rondeau, the Toronto move marks an important stage in the company’s evolution from a business launched in her garage to a Canadian lighting manufacturer with a growing physical retail network.
“It was important for us to find the right location and to be in the design district,” Rondeau told Retail Insider. “It was time to make a statement.”
“We are looking at opportunities in the United States, but our first priority is to establish ourselves more fully across Canada,” she added.
A Larger Toronto Presence
Luminaire Authentik first entered Toronto with a boutique on Queen Street East, which opened during the pandemic. The small showroom gave the company an initial presence in Ontario, but its limited footprint eventually became difficult to reconcile with a growing Toronto team and an increasingly involved consultation process.
The King East flagship provides enough room for several clients and design professionals to work with the company at the same time. It also accommodates the brand’s Toronto office alongside a broader product and material presentation.
Rondeau said she had previously considered the King East property but initially believed it was larger than the company needed. When she returned to the space, she began to see how it could support Luminaire Authentik’s longer-term plans.
“I came back and thought, ‘This is the perfect place for us. We are going to make it work,’” she said.
The showroom was developed in collaboration with Toronto-based Mason Studio and organized around a guided process of discovery, consultation and customization. Visitors can see complete lighting families, compare colours and materials, and work through possible configurations with the Luminaire Authentik team.
One area functions as a gallery, presenting the ideas and creative development behind new and upcoming collections. Mood boards and visual storytelling provide a look at how products move from initial inspiration to completed fixtures.
Collections are displayed in coordinated vignettes, while a dedicated wall presents the company’s range of sconces and colours. Several consultation stations allow designers and customers to work on residential and commercial projects within the showroom.
The material library includes the company’s colour range, glass options, natural stone, onyx and other finishes. A second section is being prepared for Lunch & Learns, material presentations and ongoing programming for Toronto’s architecture and design community.
“We wanted enough space to work with several clients at once and to create an environment where people can feel inspired,” Rondeau said. “The showroom takes visitors through the collections, materials and creative process in a much more complete way.”
The location places the company in the King East Design District, a part of Old Town Toronto known for its concentration of furniture, lighting, surface, appliance and interior design showrooms. The area attracts consumers along with architects, designers, developers and other professionals working across the built environment.
That professional audience is particularly important to Luminaire Authentik, whose fixtures are used in residential, hospitality and commercial projects and often require detailed decisions around proportions, finishes and materials.
From a Garage to Quebec Manufacturing
Rondeau founded Luminaire Authentik in Cowansville, Quebec, in 2015 with the goal of making locally designed, customizable lighting available at an accessible price point.
“At the time, it was very difficult to find a locally made design product that was also accessible,” she said. “I realized that the only way to create what I had in mind was to do it myself.”
She began producing fixtures in her garage. As the business expanded, Luminaire Authentik moved into a former grocery store in Cowansville that was converted into a manufacturing facility, workshop and head office.
The Cowansville operation remains central to the company’s identity and growth strategy. Luminaire Authentik says its products are designed, engineered and manufactured locally, with many of its suppliers and business partners located within approximately 30 kilometres of the facility.
Rondeau said keeping production close to the design team gives the company more control over quality, product development and customization. It also allows Luminaire Authentik to test materials and introduce new models without navigating a long and distant production chain.
“Continuing to manufacture locally is one of the company’s main priorities,” she said. “It gives us a great deal of flexibility and allows us to keep developing new models, new materials and new ideas.”
The company has broadened its offering to include fixtures incorporating stone, onyx, mirror and glass. Rondeau said Luminaire Authentik is also preparing to introduce a cast-iron collection in October, with a focus on craftsmanship, texture and the qualities of the material itself.
Manufacturing in Quebec allows the company to make fixtures by hand and adapt them to individual projects. That capability has helped Luminaire Authentik serve homeowners while working with designers, architects and clients in the hospitality, restaurant, office and commercial sectors.
Thousands of Possible Combinations
Customization has become one of Luminaire Authentik’s defining features. The company offers approximately 60 colours, along with different fixture shapes, structures, glass finishes, natural stones, wires and other components. These elements can be combined to create a fixture suited to the dimensions, palette and character of a particular space.
Rondeau estimated that Luminaire Authentik offers approximately 16,000 possible structural combinations before colour and material selections are considered. Once those additional variables are included, the range of possible finished designs grows considerably.
“Customers can choose a shape, a construction and the materials, and then build a light that feels specific to their space,” she said.
The breadth of the assortment also created an operational challenge. The company needed to give customers a clear way to explore the available options without making the process feel complicated.
Luminaire Authentik developed a 3D configurator that allows users to select shapes, structures and finishes, visualize the completed product and submit the chosen configuration to the production team. The digital tool works alongside the physical showroom, where clients can inspect samples and see how colours and surfaces respond to light.
“Our goal has always been to offer a locally made product that is accessible while creating a personalized experience for the client,” Rondeau said.
The showroom brings that customization model into a physical environment where clients can compare materials, discuss projects and refine their selections with the company’s team.
Lighting Takes a Larger Role in Interior Design
Rondeau has seen lighting assume a more prominent position within residential and commercial design during the company’s growth.
Fixtures that were once treated primarily as functional objects are increasingly being selected as central design elements, she said. A pendant, wall fixture or sculptural installation can become a defining feature within a room.
“Lighting is becoming much more important in interior design,” Rondeau said. “People are beginning to treat it almost like a piece of art.”
The character and temperature of light can influence the way furniture, surfaces, colours and materials are experienced. Rondeau said a carefully designed interior can lose much of its effect when the lighting is poorly selected.
“You can have the most beautiful furniture in the world, but if the lighting is not appropriate, it can change the entire space,” she said.
She believes customers are becoming more conscious of the relationship between lighting, atmosphere and emotion. That awareness has supported demand for fixtures that can be tailored to a particular interior.
It also helps explain the company’s continued investment in physical showrooms. Customers can browse and configure products online, but materials and illuminated finishes can appear significantly different when experienced in person.
“For lighting, it is important to be able to touch the materials, feel their texture and see all the finishes,” Rondeau said. “The showroom makes that experience much stronger, which is one of the reasons we plan to open more locations.”
Growing Interest in Canadian-Made Products
Luminaire Authentik’s expansion is taking place as customers pay closer attention to where products are made and how they reach the market.
Rondeau said interest in Canadian-made goods strengthened following the pandemic and has become more visible during recent trade and tariff discussions involving Canada and the United States.
Customers are also increasingly aware of the employment and environmental implications of local manufacturing, she said. Producing in Quebec supports skilled jobs and allows the company to maintain a shorter, more closely connected supply network.
“It is increasingly rare to find a product that is designed and manufactured locally,” Rondeau said. “People are proud to support that.”
For Rondeau, the response has been meaningful because domestic manufacturing was part of the company’s original purpose, long before buying Canadian became a more prominent public conversation.
“Local production has been my priority since the beginning, so I sometimes forget how unusual it has become,” she said. “When I see how proud people are to purchase something we made here, it is incredibly rewarding.”
Vancouver and Quebec City on the Expansion Agenda
Toronto is expected to play an important role in Luminaire Authentik’s next phase of growth.
Rondeau said Ontario offers a large addressable market and considerable room for the company to deepen its relationships with homeowners, designers, architects and commercial clients.
“Toronto is a very important market for us,” she said. “There is a great deal of opportunity here. We continue to grow in Quebec, but there is still much more we can accomplish in Ontario.”
Luminaire Authentik currently operates locations in Montreal, Cowansville and Toronto. Its Cowansville showroom is connected to the company’s workshop and administrative operations and includes a material library for client and professional consultations.
Vancouver is expected to be the next market. The company is currently searching for an appropriate retail space, while Quebec City is also being considered as Luminaire Authentik expands within its home province.
The Toronto flagship offers an early indication of what those future locations could become. The space supports retail purchases, professional consultations, product education and an ongoing conversation around materials and Canadian manufacturing.
Rondeau joked during the interview that she had “caught the bug” for opening showrooms. The comment reflects a serious shift in the business, with physical retail becoming increasingly important to the way Luminaire Authentik introduces its products, works with design professionals and builds awareness outside Quebec.
With manufacturing remaining in Cowansville and new markets beginning to open, Luminaire Authentik is entering a new stage of growth that pairs Canadian production with an expanding national showroom network.
