who we are

FRIENDSHIP

We started Cerno because we love to design and build things. Our passion for design and manufacturing is fueled by a shared belief in the infinite power of human creativity. We believe that each finished product that we produce is a celebration of the inventive minds and industrious hands that brought it to life. The process of taking an intangible concept and developing it into a fully resolved finished light fixture is intoxicating. One could liken it to an artist’s final stroke to complete a painting or a mechanic repairing the seemingly irreparable. It’s this visceral sense of accomplishment that inspires us to continue designing and building things.

Cerno is a family, friendship and homage to our pasts. Twenty-five years ago we were kids growing up in Laguna Beach, California. Our Values are inevitably a product of our heritage. Laguna Beach’s creative culture and its natural environment played a significant role in shaping the professional and aesthetic ideals that guide Cerno today. Believing that something that does not exist can exist, is the most important step in the creative process. Growing up we saw this phenomenon proven time and time again by our parents, grandparents and friends. Although we attribute our drive and influences to different sources, Daniel’s late grandfather, Steve, influenced all of us. Steve grew up on an extremely rural homestead where the existence of most objects depended on people’s ability to create and fix them. For all of his 101 years he embodied the saying “where there’s a will there’s a way,” and today we share this mentality with the rest of the Cerno team.