Operating in Arcata, California, Nottland Studio is a boutique furniture and home goods store curated for “exceptional dreamers” (as founder Abigail Nottingham declares). As an interior designing professional, Abigail has a keen eye for furniture pieces and home goods that are simple, yet elegant. Each piece tells a story and has life breathed into it by men and women who live to create. The studio offers a wide range of upscale, bohemian treasures that are almost all exclusively locally created. The artifacts in Nottland Studio are curated with intention; one of the things that makes Abigail’s style so unique is the tendency to gravitate towards furniture where longevity is the most crucial characteristic beginning right at the moment of inception. You will find nothing that has been mass-produced inside the store. 

Walking into the studio, you immediately notice the lean into an earthier color palate. This can be attributed to Abigail’s tendency to prefer more natural materials like wood and clay to synthetic polymers and plastics. The second thing is the store’s lighting. All the lighting fixtures in the studio are handcrafted installations by Lamps by Hilliard, an Arcata staple boutique light-fixture company hailing from the 70s and headed by Sam Hilliard. “At Hilliard, we operate with one goal in mind: to create something useful, beautiful, and cherished” (Hilliardlamps.com). Hilliard lamps are characteristically both stylish and timeless. By using durable materials like bronze, stone, and glass they can ensure that their creations will become heirlooms for another generation. Using the appropriate mixture of space, color, and material, artists at Hilliard’s enhance every feature which, in turn, can elevate the space the lamp/fixture occupies. 

If you want to change the look of your home completely, the most important area to focus on is the lighting. It has also been proven that the lighting in your space directly impacts your mental health. So, if you find that you have been in a rut lately or just need to make a change, making the small investment to upgrade the lighting in your home might be the most useful use of funds possible. 

Nottland Studios invites all who dare to stray away from the culture of single-use into a world of timeless beauty and handcrafted art Thursday through Sunday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., or by appointment Monday through Wednesday.