Lampscapes

You really need to visit this store in White River Vermont. We just bought two floor lamps for our girls' room and they are absolutely divine. I don't think I've ever seen more interesting and unique lamps. Each lamp that Ken Blaisdell makes is one-of-a-kind and fabulous.

A peek at Ken's shop

His Facebook page provides more info about him and his business, but he does not yet have an actual website. Here is a paragraph from his page:

Blaisdell grew up around Springfield, Mass. As a young man, he started working in the city as a salesman for a producer of industrial machinery. Hanging around the factory he learned how to use the equipment. One day he wanted to try to make an art project and he thought that a lamp would be pretty simple. He then decided to paint a lampshade to complement his creation and...

...A Light Bulb went on! It was electrifying!!

Says Ken about his work:

“Although Lampscapes began with the production of a lamp base, the excitement began the first time I painted a shade.  The idea of light behind a painted landscape offers continuous inspiration for me. I have used oil and acrylic on styrene, vinyl and all types of paper.  My latest interest is painting on hand-made paper.”

His funky little store is half workshop half retail, and is filled with all kinds of shades and bases. If you want something simple in particular, he may even build the base with items you see, and hand paint the shade on the spot for you to take home. He did this for one of the lamps my girls bought, and they were amazed. He even wired it right there in front of them!

The bases for my girls' lamps are made from re-purposed metal parts, including two gears layered over a rusted metal flat disk that serve as a base for one, and a broken metal ring--something that he found in the train yard across the road--brilliantly transformed, still broken, into a finial on top. It looks wonderful! I've asked for two table lamps for Christmas, and they will be my favorite thing under the tree, I already know. Images of my girls' lamps coming soon.

Every lamp in the store reflects his own signature style, and you'll find them nowhere else. What this man is doing in a sleepy backwater like White River is a mystery--but I'm glad he is--it's gonna be saving me a lotta trips to New York (which is where his wonderful work belongs).