Janet Engel (00:03.055)
Hello everyone and thank you for being with us. Today our guest is Maria Shiglusky and she is the kitchen and bath sales designer for the company Richelieu. She is also a national lighting expert for Richelieu and is the membership chair for NKBA Georgia Chapter. Maria, thank you for being with us today.
Maria A Szeglowski (00:31.362)
thanks for having me.
Janet Engel (00:33.035)
Yes, and I am excited to have you because I love the different products that Richelieu has. I was first introduced to them about a year ago when I became a member.
KBA and we had one of our chapter meetings at your company and there was someone who gave a CEU on lighting and showed us all of the different lighting products that Richelieu has and I was just
just dumbfounded at how advanced Richelieu is when it comes to providing products that really will help people age in place. And not just older people, but people like myself create a more functional space in your kitchen, in your bathroom. So I've been wanting to have you on my show for a while. So.
Maria A Szeglowski (01:32.584)
Well, we're excited to be here because Richelieu does some great things and it's getting the word out so that people are aware of those products.
Janet Engel (01:41.455)
Yes. So tell me a little bit about Richelieu and the kind of products that they sell. I know that Richelieu only sells to distributors, right? Is that what you call them? Okay.
Maria A Szeglowski (01:56.072)
So we're a distributor. We sell to kitchen and bath showrooms, builder, design build firms, contractors. You have to have a to the trade or an account business in order to purchase directly from Richelieu.
Janet Engel (02:11.503)
Okay, yes. So tell me, because I remember with the person who gave the CEU on lighting that he said that Rishuloo really is like five years ahead of everyone else in this game when it comes to lighting. Yeah.
Maria A Szeglowski (02:30.504)
So that's our dynamic Damiano from Italy via Miami. He is the manager of the product and helps do a lot of the education and he travels all over. And we were thrilled to have him come in September because I think that event really shocked a lot of people at how innovative Richelieu is with lighting product.
Janet Engel (02:46.509)
-huh.
Janet Engel (02:59.087)
Yes, I agree with you and I was one of those that was shocked. So can you tell me a little bit more about Risholu and its mission related to enhancing home environments and specifically considering that we have 10 ,000 baby boomers turning age 65 every single day until the year 2030, how Risholu's products.
also will particularly help this population.
Maria A Szeglowski (03:29.544)
Well, I think it's the relationships that Richelieu builds. We build relationships with our customers, helping them to find new innovative ways to improve their business and home environments. So we've been on the cutting edge of lighting and we're always so far ahead of everybody else. We came out with silicone lighting and LED back in 2008.
And just in the last two years, people are starting to catch up with us. So we always have to be one step ahead to do that. But we're involved in the design and innovation. We're not just buying products from someone to resell.
Janet Engel (04:09.359)
Why do you think that is if you've come up with a product that is so great in most industries you're going to have other companies that are going to be you know right behind them either trying to copy it or you know making something that's similar. Why do you think it's taken so long for other companies that sell similar products and services to jump on board with technology particularly with lighting.
Maria A Szeglowski (04:38.952)
Everybody's right behind us for sure. The differences are products are designed and developed in Europe and Italy, and they're always ahead of the design curve. Whether it's hard lighting, hardware, cabinetry, they're always one step ahead of us. So the fact that we're developing and designing that there and bringing it to the US, people will always try to copy us.
not they're not exactly there. And I think with some of the products that we do and the way that we do it, whether it's patented or not, they can't quite get there. And we still are the only plug and play system that sells lighting so that, you know, a contractor could install it. It's all encompassed. Very simple. So.
Janet Engel (05:21.943)
Mmm.
Maria A Szeglowski (05:38.49)
You know, they're coming. They're always coming. But we have to stay ahead of the curve to keep it going.
Janet Engel (05:45.903)
Can you tell me about the specific product and Damiano talked about this in his presentation where you have a sensor and then everything else communicates with that sensor. And so that eliminates having to have coils of electricity hidden inside cabinetry and you know what used to have to be in place. Can you explain that to me?
Maria A Szeglowski (06:03.176)
Right.
Maria A Szeglowski (06:10.696)
Right.
Maria A Szeglowski (06:15.848)
Sure, we have Wi -Fi and Bluetooth capability. So we work off of two different options. If you're doing Wi -Fi and you are wanting to turn your lights on or adjust the lights or dim the lights, you can ask Alexa or Google to do that for you. You don't have to physically get up and go to a light switch and turn it on in order to dim it or change the color temperature or any of that.
And when your lights are on, we also have a phone app through Richelieu that you can control those lights with also. And that's all Wi -Fi capability. Some people don't want that. They still want like a remote in hand or they want proximity sensors. And so again, for aging in place, both of these systems work great.
If you're a proximity sensor and you're walking down into your bathroom or into your kitchen, the motion will control those lights to kick on via Bluetooth. The same thing with interior cabinet lighting. We have a couple of things that if you open the drawers or open the doors, the motion will control those lights. Instead of having to walk to the other side of the room and go, I forgot to turn on the light. I'm going to flip the switch.
I'm going to dim the light, change the color temperature. Those things do it for you. And it really is amazing how well it works.
Janet Engel (07:49.519)
This is the kind of innovation that I talk about in my Certified Aging in Place classes that I teach for the National Association of Home Builders. How motion sensors, especially for lighting, are really going to help reduce the risk for falls. Because poor lighting is one of the main reasons why people fall in their home or have some type of accident because you don't want to
have enough lighting in a space like the kitchen where you're dealing with sharp objects, you know, you're dealing with gas or electric heat and it's just so wonderful to be able to come into a space and the lights turn on.
Maria A Szeglowski (08:39.304)
Right? And what's nice about this too, Janet, is really, if you have an outlet to plug a power supply into, you can add lighting. It's not like you have to call the contractor and open up all your walls. If you have to do that, you might have to do that for the power outlet, but you won't have to do it for the rest of the products. And it really is a very quick, clean, sleek install that could be added.
to your existing space or while you're doing renovations.
Janet Engel (09:11.215)
okay and we would just have to work with an electrician that has an account with Rishyalu to be able to do that.
Maria A Szeglowski (09:18.416)
So for this type of product, it's builder designer account. It does not have to be an electrician. Our lights can be installed without an electrician because we're a plug and play system, which means all of our wires are sealed with small connectors that plug into the power supply. So once you have the outlet in place in your kitchen, whether it's in a cabinet or underneath a sink cabinet,
Janet Engel (09:28.015)
Okay.
Maria A Szeglowski (09:46.92)
that's what we need the electrician for.
Janet Engel (09:50.829)
Okay. Okay.
Maria A Szeglowski (09:52.488)
But you could go to a kitchen and bath showroom, a design builder, contractor who has an account and you could access that. All the lighting takeoffs come through me and we have a system in place where we have a person that creates the drawing takeoff and the parts list. And then I take it, check it and price it and send that back to the account in order to be able to process and order all the product.
Janet Engel (10:22.863)
Okay. One of my favorite products from Richelieu is the Hitty LED light that can be placed inside cabinetry or drawers. Can you tell us a little bit more about that product?
Maria A Szeglowski (10:40.328)
Yeah, the HIDDI is a light that has an extension wire to plug into the power supply and also a sensor in it for motion. So when that light is placed inside a cabinet, when the door, the drawer opens, the lights will go on and you could see what's in your cabinet. If you have multiple drawers, you can put them in between multiple drawers.
But the HIDI is a very small compact light so it really does give off a lot of light and it doesn't require too much for the installation of that. A couple of screws.
Janet Engel (11:22.127)
So I could buy that at a lighting design showroom that sells your products and install it myself.
Maria A Szeglowski (11:30.37)
Technically, yes, as long as you have an outlet for the power supply to plug into.
Janet Engel (11:35.919)
Okay, okay, because I would love to have those hitty lights inside my.
pantry which has very deep shelves and I can't see what's you know behind 12 inches of it. I think it goes back 24 inches. I can only see up to 12. So I would love to have the Hitty Light, you know, one on each side and then one on the back of the pantry.
Maria A Szeglowski (11:51.688)
Right.
Maria A Szeglowski (11:55.557)
Yeah.
Maria A Szeglowski (12:00.808)
Let's go!
Maria A Szeglowski (12:05.096)
I think you know someone that could help you do that.
Janet Engel (12:08.207)
I do. I think I know a few people. But yes, that would be wonderful. What about lighting for wayfinding that you can place either underneath a cabinets, top cabinets, or even in the toe kick of the lower cabinets?
Maria A Szeglowski (12:13.512)
Yeah.
Maria A Szeglowski (12:34.984)
Yeah, we sell a product called, we call it AT6. It's a silicone wrapped lighting that comes already in the roll for whatever length you need. And it has the silicone around it, so you don't need any other products to go with it. You could actually, we always say you could peel it, stick it, and click it, and then it works.
And it doesn't require a lot of extra wire mold or clips or parts that go with it. And we use it for toe kick application. We use it for under cabinet lighting and we use it for top cabinets or cove lighting. And it's really a great system because it has a 3M sticky surface to it. It does have a couple of clips if you're going long like lengths and it's hanging upside down, you might want to.
secure it a little bit easier, but for the most part that could be run in all those areas. And where you're talking about that toe kick, if you added a proximity sensor to that run, that sensor would trigger you coming into your kitchen and those toe kick lights going on or your under cabinet lights going on.
Janet Engel (13:44.367)
All right.
Janet Engel (13:53.807)
which is such a great safety feature and also an energy efficiency because it's only going to come on when it's tripped when someone goes into the room.
Maria A Szeglowski (14:09.384)
Right, right. And our diodes, the little dots that you see that lights that come through are really diffused through that silicone. And it gives a really consistent light throughout. It's probably our number one product, but it's nice because it's slick, it's clean, it's high design, but it'll work for a lot of applications.
Janet Engel (14:18.861)
Mm -hmm.
Janet Engel (14:35.727)
What about motion sensor lights that can be placed in the walls? Not the type that you plug in to an outlet, but like you see it more often at restaurants or hotels where it's in the walls. Does Richelieu have a product like that?
Maria A Szeglowski (14:53.864)
I think it's a wall switch, but that's wired throughout the room or throughout the house. That's not really where we're adding lighting. We don't do necessarily room lighting, but cabinetry lighting, accessibility lighting, that kind of thing.
Janet Engel (15:10.883)
Okay. Well, tell me more about the accessibility lighting. How's that different from the lighting we just discussed?
Maria A Szeglowski (15:19.336)
Actually, it isn't any different, but we're doing that to help someone, whether it's a toe kick light or something that we're adding to your kitchen or to your bathroom even. If you think about how many times people get up to go to use the restroom at night and they're looking for the light switch, that toe kick light with the sensor triggers on and you could set the timer for it. It has three times that you could change it to for the length of it to go on.
Janet Engel (15:47.087)
Mm -hmm.
Maria A Szeglowski (15:49.506)
to help certainly in the middle of the night or in darkness.
Janet Engel (15:53.677)
which is a great feature because most falls occur when people are walking from their bed to the toilet in the middle of the night.
Maria A Szeglowski (16:03.208)
Hmm, that's interesting.
Janet Engel (16:05.859)
Mm -hmm Yeah, and it you know imagine if you're waking up three and four times Which can be pretty common for older people who have incontinence Imagine how deteriorated your sleep quality is at that point?
Maria A Szeglowski (16:23.112)
Yeah, well, yeah, and again, if you have cabinetry in your bedroom, chest of drawers or a nightstand that you want to do that, it could also be added to that application because it's a cabinet.
Janet Engel (16:36.751)
Okay, well that would be great because a lot of people keep medications like I do in my nightstand and now I always make sure to turn on my light when I'm going to take medication because it's happened to me a couple of times where I've taken the wrong medication.
Maria A Szeglowski (16:57.062)
Okay. Yeah.
Janet Engel (16:58.255)
Yeah, because I, you know, I have presbiopia, which is a common condition after the age of 40 where you're unable to focus. And so I don't read small writing very well and especially not in low lighting environments. So definitely I've learned to not trust myself when it comes to taking medications.
Maria A Szeglowski (17:23.336)
Yeah, I mean, you could use that HIDDI would be the perfect application for your nightstand.
Janet Engel (17:26.767)
that I, yes, I agree with you. And then my husband wouldn't complain when I turned on the lamp. So Maria, can you explain to us for people who are not lighting experts, which many of us aren't, right? Even interior designers.
Maria A Szeglowski (17:37.256)
Right, exactly, exactly.
Janet Engel (17:52.367)
still lack knowledge about lighting. Explain to us what lighting used to be like compared to what we have now and how different that is.
Maria A Szeglowski (18:06.568)
Well, yeah, you know, I've been a designer for 39 years and I think I've sold all phases of lighting and lighting used to be difficult in some systems. It still is where you have to have an electrician. You have to run low voltage wiring in the walls. And when that lighting comes out, you have to attach it to your strip lighting that you're putting in your cabinets or wherever else. And that is a hardwired application. And that's where the connections.
fail or you have problems with drivers or the light strip itself, the connection in the screws are so tiny and so little that anything can happen. And so Richelieu, again, a head of design and innovation, they developed this plug and play system to make it so much easier. But not only that is as a designer who doesn't know anything,
All they need to do is give me their plans and discuss it. We do the takeoff for you. We generate the list of parts and we show you how to install it. So it makes it a lot simpler and a lot easier from what it used to be.
Janet Engel (19:20.943)
Yeah, yeah, especially for someone who's not an electrician like myself, being an occupational therapist, and perhaps I'm doing an evaluation for someone who wants to age in place. And, you know, I don't have all of this knowledge, so I could just come to you and then you could figure it out, right? Okay, great. Tell me, Maria,
Maria A Szeglowski (19:42.312)
Right, correct.
Janet Engel (19:49.295)
What do you think about the different technology that is coming our way and how Rishaloo is really having an impact on this demographic that is growing so quickly, the demographic over the age of 65? Are there any products in specific that you think are especially impactful?
Maria A Szeglowski (20:18.344)
you know, I think that with our lighting, we thought about those things, whether you were aging in place or you weren't. and because we're innovators, we develop sleek, thin design and develop lighting that follows that design. So new evolutions are always in development. We're always thinking ahead of what could be next. So, with that in mind, we're trying to make lighting more prominent here in the U S.
Janet Engel (20:35.055)
Mm.
Maria A Szeglowski (20:48.104)
and make it much easier to design and sell.
Janet Engel (20:51.887)
Mm -hmm. And so with that said, for our listeners who are considering upgrading their lighting like I am, especially in my kitchen and my bathroom, then what should we look for when choosing products? And then I know you told me that we have to go through...
Maria A Szeglowski (20:53.352)
and much easier to use.
Janet Engel (21:15.663)
a design and someone who has a contact with Richelieu. So just explain that to me a little bit more.
Maria A Szeglowski (21:27.432)
So most kitchen and bath showrooms, kitchen and bath designers, design build firms all have access to our products. And if you're really looking for someone, you could certainly even contact Richelieu and ask for a reference to some of our accounts. And we would offer that, certainly. But.
Janet Engel (21:45.997)
Okay.
Maria A Szeglowski (21:55.708)
You know, I cover all of Atlanta, all of Georgia up to Savannah and down to Valdosta and North. I call on all those accounts. So I'm sure we could find someone that was close enough to someone to help them develop that product.
Janet Engel (22:11.215)
Okay and other than lighting, Richelieu also carries hardware and don't you also carry Revachelv products?
Maria A Szeglowski (22:22.728)
So we carry decorative hardware and poles and knobs that are ADA compliant and aging in place compliant. We carry a lot of Rev -A -Shelf and Kessel Boomer and Richelieu branded accessories that go into the cabinets for easy access and creating accessibility where you're not digging or crawling on the floor for something in your cabinets or helping to bring stuff above cabinets down below.
that are easily accessible. Yeah.
Janet Engel (22:55.599)
Are there any of those products that you can tell us about that outside of lighting where you can...
Maria A Szeglowski (23:04.872)
sure. I mean, you know, people have mixers. We have pop -up mixers. We have rollout shelves, pull out trash. There's quite a few things that would help all that with accessibility. Drawer dividers. You add lights into there with the accessory. It make it much easier to use.
Janet Engel (23:28.791)
Mm -hmm and that is such a great aging in place feature and universal design feature having drawer dividers because people I don't think they realize how Many things we put in kitchen drawers and then how hard it is to find these items When you don't have organizers in there Yeah, and especially as we age vision
Maria A Szeglowski (23:49.576)
Right. Yeah.
Janet Engel (23:57.365)
declines, especially if we're in a space that's poorly lit, then we can't find what we're looking for.
Maria A Szeglowski (24:07.624)
Right, that's correct.
Janet Engel (24:09.751)
Mm -hmm, and I always tell my CAP students that in a kitchen, because many people don't know this, is that you can look to a chart that will tell you how many foot candles you should have in a particular space. And for the kitchen in particular, we should have between 50 and 100 foot candles. And if you don't have that, then you don't have enough lighting to be able to find them in that space.
Maria A Szeglowski (24:36.168)
Right, and that under cabinet lighting and the interior cabinet lighting is all additional. We calculate wattages and you have to have consistent lighting all the way through or it's not going to work.
Janet Engel (24:50.647)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Right. Is there anything else that you want to say about that since you're the national lighting expert?
Maria A Szeglowski (24:58.792)
Yeah, so I mean, I'm on a panel with several other salespeople through Richelieu that cover the country. And again, we're always getting more knowledge and information from our suppliers to help us generate those lighting takeoffs and figure things out. You know, people are doing closets and lighting trends have come from way back to the last person in line at the race.
Janet Engel (25:26.159)
Thank you.
Maria A Szeglowski (25:27.474)
all the way now to the forefront. And it really is becoming a high required item.
Janet Engel (25:34.991)
really because people are now demanding that they have improved lighting in their space.
Maria A Szeglowski (25:42.408)
Correct, correct. I mean, think about your closet. Most people have like a master bedroom with a master closet walk -in. You have one ceiling light fixture in your closet. You can't see anything if you own a lot of black like me. So we sell closet rods to put lighting in. We sell lighting to put on the panels where the clothes are hanging or divided, where shoes are, so that you have access to see all that.
Janet Engel (26:10.199)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, and that's a great example. I have these two shelves for shoes and they have glass doors and a lot of times my black shoes I can't see them unless I open the doors and specifically look and then I have to You know troubleshoot which is the black shoe that I'm looking for
Maria A Szeglowski (26:23.72)
Right.
Maria A Szeglowski (26:33.64)
Right. Yes, I feel your pain.
Janet Engel (26:38.319)
Yeah. Well Maria, this has been so informative. I love talking about lighting. I think it's like you said to me a few weeks ago, it's so poorly understood, but yet so important in design.
Maria A Szeglowski (26:53.192)
Yes.
Maria A Szeglowski (26:57.288)
Yeah, you know, and it's interesting because I do see a lot of kitchen and bath designers and design build firms. And when you ask them about lighting, they go, we let our electrician do it because it is that kind of scary thing. You think you have to figure all these things out. And once you start using it and I'll be honest, once the installer start installing it and see how easy it is, it makes it really easy. Simple.
Janet Engel (27:23.087)
Yeah, yeah, well good. I hope that a lot of installers are listening to this and become more brave about doing this area and doing it right because it is so crucial and it is a low -cost way to improve safety in the home. Not just safety but beauty because without the proper lighting you can't highlight.
Maria A Szeglowski (27:42.088)
absolutely.
Janet Engel (27:52.687)
what's in your space.
Maria A Szeglowski (27:54.856)
And that's exactly it. There's a lot of designs out there that have the wrong lighting or inadequate lighting, and their designs do not function well because of that.
Janet Engel (28:05.967)
Yeah, well thank you so much Maria and I'd love to see you come back if you have new products that you want to tell us about. That would be wonderful. You're welcome.
Maria A Szeglowski (28:09.096)
Well, thank you.
Maria A Szeglowski (28:14.6)
I appreciate it. Thanks very much.
