Wednesday 26 August 2020

The Iconic Movie Light Company That Started It All.

1896 was the founding year of the Kliegl Brothers Universal Electric Stage Lighting Company with the intent to design and build electric light fixtures for studio and stage. With competition primarily featuring antiquated gas lamps, the brothers quickly gained notoriety and success to become one North America’s most prolific manufacturers of studio lighting.

This particular unit originated in the 40’s and 50’s and has been stripped to bare metal and refinished in an antique bronze patina. It includes a flawless 6 inch Pyrex lens, the ability to adjust the beam from flood to spot intensity and has been converted to a regular household bulb and ceramic socket. It is perched on a collapsible Mole Richardson wheeled stand that extends the lamp upwards from 5 to 9 feet and comes replete with a generous length of electrical cord.

Very cool piece of illumination for artwork and architectural features or just to use as the ultimate reading light - $650.

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Friday 10 July 2020

And now for something completely different…

… for fans of the 50’s, a fan of the fifty’s… newly repurposed and now converted to a unique, one-of-a-kind floor lamp. This Sea-breeze model 5121 articulated floor fan was originally manufactured right here in Toronto, way back when. It has been dismantled, cleaned, waxed and its interior has been reconfigured to accommodate its conversion to a 5 chandelier bulb light fixture. Turns off and on via a click switch and comes replete with a generous length of cord.

It is 13.5” in width, 9” front to back, stands 4ft. and extends to 6. It has a 14sq.” footprint. For 70 years old it has a great glossy patina thanks to a fresh carnauba waxing. Can’t get much more attractive than this… yours for a mere pittance of $425.

If you like “different”, I try not to disappoint. You can check out the many other light fixtures and chandeliers I’ve design/built by an arranged visit to my humble Corktown studio literally a minute’s walk above Toronto’s famous Distillery District.

Note: No, the lights don’t revolve :)



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Thursday 4 June 2020

Hope you don’t like It.

Rarest and Coolest Looking of Movie Spotlights.

This sweet Bantam Super Spot is by far one of the coolest and hardest to find of its kind especially with the optional extension at the back. Comprised of mild steel and aluminum, it was fabricated in the late 30’s and was primarily used as a theatre light.

Generally seated on a very short metal base, I have mounted this particular unit on an original, wheeled, collapsible, extendable (to 9ft) 1950’s period Mole Richardson light stand stenciled with “TDF Studios” - a prominent commercial art and film studio during Toronto’s 60’s and 70’s mad men era. The lamp illuminates a standard, clear 60w bulb turning off and on via a new click switch.

Although not native to the fixture, I have mounted a circular grill to the front as it handsomely compliments the wire cage located on its top which, when opened, provides access to the bulb inside. It also features a push/pull lever at the rear which allows adjustment from spot to floodlight intensity.

To be honest, I don’t mind if I don’t sell this one as it’s well worth keeping.

If you like it as much as I do, it’s yours for $950.


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Wednesday 18 March 2020

Abandoned Over A Century Ago.

Households and businesses in the late 1800’s were primarily illuminated by the visual warmth and radiance of lamps of oil and gas - a tradition soon extinguished by the advent of the electric bulb.

Fresh off my workbench, this reimagined chandelier is entirely comprised of repurposed, ornate brass elements retrieved from a 1892 table-style oil lamp, an equally opulent hanging variation of similar vintage with a translucent, milk glass dome and trimmed with 30 lengths of hand-strung crystals - an authentic tribute to that long lost era of craftsmanship, elegance and purpose.

This fixture is a ceiling mount and hangs at a length of 36 inches from canopy to its furthest crystal with a width of 20 inches. It is lit by a single, larger, circular frosted 60 watt incandescent bulb housed in a dimmable socket to control it’s intensity but will accommodate any type of bulb of similar wattage.

Each component of this chandelier has been meticulously refurbished, polished to a gloss then reassembled to become, like all the fixtures I design/build, a unique and original one-of-a-kind. Priced at $3000.


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