ACCIPITER

Sandy Friedman is one of the most helpful people on the planet. In addition, he is a lighting expert. His small shop in Raleigh's Cameron Village features primarily modern and contemporary lighting. His expertise extends to knowing which manufacturers provide quality products as well as what type of lighting and lighting output works best for given circumstances. Sandy is adept at lighting artwork-- in terms of color accurate light, light output (lumens) and focus (e.g. 25 degrees). Sandy made a house call and provided recommendations to fit our budget level. He also provided the name of an expert electrician having expertise in wiring complex, low voltage lamps. Sandy provided lighting for the living room, dining room, kitchen and kitchen eating area. We had one recent problem and he advised depressing a small white button (circuit breaker) on a low voltage light transformer. Bingo! We have light again. I highly recommend Accipiter.

The owner of Accipiter, Sandy, is a gem. He has the mind of an engineer as well as a wonderful eye for design. He is very precise and his recommendations to us were just outstanding. Better than I could have imagined. Our living room never had overhead lighting and he immdiately knew exactly what type of lighting we needed and where to locate the lights. When our electrician had questions, Sandy would get on the phone with them and patiently explain what needed to be done. In order to save us money, he gave my husband explicit instructions (and showed him in the store exactly what to do), so that we could hang our own pendant lights. Although the store is in Raleigh, he was willing to come out to our house in Chapel Hill in the evening (twice) as well as correspond via email and by phone. He walked into our newly remodeled kitchen, and immediately knew what pendants would look perfect. He is such a careful and precise person that he went through 8 different lights before he found three pendants which matched my specifications (they are hand made and each one is slightly different).His store is such a fun place too. It is part art gallery and gift shop as well as a lighting store. I will only use Sandy for my lighting needs in the future. What a find!