The outdoor lighting industry had a problem. On one end, cheap fixtures that fade and fail after a season. On the other, overpriced “premium" brands charging luxury margins for marginal quality. Homeowners were left choosing between throwing money away or overpaying — and nobody was building something better.

 

Redwoods was founded in 2018 to change that.

 

Co-founders TJ Lucero and Kenny Kaufman came to the table with a rare combination of credibility. TJ spent 15 years in technical and operational roles at John Deere before joining Apple in iPhone Operations — bringing a precision engineering mindset to an industry that had grown complacent. Over two decades, Kenny built one of the country's largest landscape lighting installation companies from the ground up, starting as a field technician and eventually operating across three states. Between them, they understood both how great products are built and what actually performs in the field.

 

TJ designed Redwoods' first three fixtures during nights and weekends while still at Apple. By the summer of 2018, the vision was clear enough to go all in. He left Apple, relocated his family to Augusta, Georgia, and launched Redwoods.

 

In 2025, Kenny sold his installation businesses and joined Redwoods full time, leading the Sales and Marketing organization. With both founders now fully committed, Redwoods entered a new chapter — one backed by the same hands-on expertise that built the company, now focused entirely on growth.

 

What started with three fixtures is now a full product line of landscape lighting built to a simple standard: premium materials, real-world durability, and pricing that doesn't require an apology.

 

In 2026, Redwoods expanded into smart lighting with Bonsai Aura — an app-controlled line of 24V roofline and flexible neon lighting that brings programmable, dynamic lighting to the permanent roofline category.

 

And we're not slowing down. At Redwoods, good enough never is. We're constantly revisiting our designs; integrating improved components, adopting new technologies, and raising the bar on what our fixtures can do. The industry settled. We haven't, and we don't plan to.