Handmade Lampshades in Fabulous Vintage Fabrics

I love having my own business. I continue to grow as an artist challenging myself to become a better designer. My grandmother said that I always had a a pair of scissors in my hands!

All lampshades are handmade and designed by me! No outsourcing or light manufacturing, thank goodness!

I studied studio art in college. I was a tapestry weaver. I spun yarn, knit, paper making, batik, lots of collage....anything with fiber. Finding my path after college was a little harder. I dabbled with my weaving and yarns, but never felt there was a business there.

I taught myself to make lampshades at age 26... now... almost 30 years later! I started as a hobby and need for lampshades for our first house. All my friends and family got lampshades! And then the tipping point came and it hit me---maybe this might be a fun business! And ooooh, the hard lessons learned, the marketing lessons in the days way before the internet, the early craft shows- good and bad and terrible! The design evolution in the past 30 years!

I love challenging myself to do better- to go beyond good--- to reach the BEST product I can make. I like to say, LAMPSHADE MAKING is a craft but I take it to an ART!

I started my Studio/Retail Shop in 1998 in the small village of Pawlet, Vermont. I rented this cute little cottage for 100 dollars a month; the landlord wanted someone to keep the heat on! Now in 2016 I own the little cottage; I actually purchased it about 10 years ago! I love my studio. It's really in the middle of no where... a couple of miles from my studio/shop... low carbon foot print:)

In 2008-09 I worked on a book project for Crown Publishing, The Lampshade Lady's Guide to Lighting up Your Life. Huge challenge for me. Humbling and rewarding all in the same breath. I hire a great photographer I'd met on a visit from Country Living the year before. It worked.... I'm pretty proud of our work. It's a niche- we will never sell too many books, but it's the best in the world of what it is... I think anyway. I've learned to be a better marketer, better stylist, better photographer. Basically it taught me to SEE better visually.

I started on Etsy Dec. 2012. I'd came to Etsy before my book came out in 2008, but was really too busy to attend to it properly. Before I came to etsy I shopped on it for a year and watched my product category for a year and in the end decided it was the perfect place for my product. There is MUCH more to selling on Etsy than meets the eye. It's been a fun challenge to try to figure it all out!

I have been making handcrafted custom decorative lampshades since 1985! I have chosen to keep my shop small. I can change my styles on a dime. I like to have unusual work that isn't like the run of the mill big catalog home design. One of a kind; OOAK is my specialty. I pride myself on my work. It comes from the heart. I do ALL my work by myself. I love to find all my fabrics, embroideries and wonderful fabrics and lamps. It's a wonderful business and so happy I have fallen into this life!

xo
judy lake

ps if you come to Vermont, stop by and say HI!
802-325-6308 shop



.