For this design duo, living with beautiful things is the root of creativity
Meet The Makers | Jan 25, 2024
Natalie Page and Robert Ogden want to bring more beauty into homes. The Philadelphia-based husband-and-wife duo behind lighting and furniture brand Lostine are on a mission to elevate everyday life with objects that are functional and good-looking. “I like the idea of living with beautiful things,” Page tells Business of Home. “I am most inspired by the capabilities—and imagination—of design.”
Ogden began experimenting with lighting design 25 years ago after taking courses at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts, where he learned how to weld and braze metal. Page, who spearheads the brand’s ceramics line, first fell in love with clay while studying at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers more than two decades ago and hasn’t stopped working with it since. “Robert drew me into thinking and talking about product design,” she says. “When we first started dating, we would pore over magazines together and sketch things out on the dining table for hours on end.”
In 2014, Ogden launched RTO Lighting, a bespoke lighting brand with artfully made pieces such as a hand-stitched, leather-wrapped ceiling fixture and a table lamp crafted from selenite and spun bronze. “Sometimes, I start to build a light from an idea in my head,” he says. “I really like working with my hands.”
The Lostine brand is where the pair merge their respective crafts, offering everything from ceramic pendant lights to walnut-framed mirrors, which are handmade in-house with the help of their team of nearly two dozen artisans. “We have workshops for our employees to learn different crafts,” says Page. “They can work with clay in the ceramic studio, learn how to turn wood in the woodshop, or forge steel in the metal shop.”
Though form and function guide Lostine’s designs, materiality—specifically sustainable materials—plays a pivotal role. “I source as close to our shop as possible,” says Ogden. “There are a lot of benefits to making products locally. We can respond quickly to inventory needs; we can make prototypes and corrections much faster, while providing jobs locally.”
The brand recently released the Found Object collection, which features 18 one-of-a-kind table and floor lamps fashioned from salvaged materials like antique iron handwheels and perforated copper cone shades. “I’m interested in making found lamps with more modern parts from the 1960s and ’70s,” says Ogden. “I’m currently foraging for parts to expand the series to include pendants and sconces.” Lostine also offers vintage furniture finds.
The pair has plans to roll out a line of colored-leather-clad pendant lights later in the year, as well as several new lighting designs with hand-sculpted ceramic components. “We have had an amazing reaction to our Lola chandelier, which is the first piece Robert and I collaborated on together,” says Page. “We have gotten very good at listening to one another’s ideas and trying things out that don’t instantly suit us. We both know when something really works—and there’s nothing more satisfying.”
If you want to learn more about Robert Ogden and Natalie Page, visit Lostine’s website or Instagram.
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