.jpg)
"I came across this old shade and I’d like to have it restored”
We hear this quite often in our business and we are always anxious to see what they have. Many amazing frames arrive here in shapes and styles we have never seen before! Often we fall in love with the antique shape and are able to reproduce the frames for our "collection" of future shades to make.
When restoring a shade we try to come as close to the design of the original as possible if that is what the client wants. It’s great when we can save the trims and beads in order to reapply them. Fabrics can be a challenge, as they change often and disappear from the shelves, this applies to both colors and patterns. But we have been fortunate to come very close most of the time!
We had one come to us with painted images on some of the panels. They were worn and a few torn beyond repair. We were able to reproduce them and recreated the same look as it must have had previously. The customer was amazed but bewildered as to how we mended them so they didn’t even show the tears and holes! We were so glad that they were happy with the restored shade!
But my favorites are the requests that are made by a grandchild (or great), with the intent of returning the shade to their still living grandparent.
"This shade was on my grandmother’s lamp for as long as I can remember. I now have her lamp and would like to have the shade restored."
Restoration becomes even more important to us then!
A couple of years ago we were fortunate to be able to work with a woman that lived a hundred miles from us and she hand delivered the lampshade to us. It was her grandmothers shade that she really wanted it restored as close as possible to the original look. Fortunately there were actual fabric panels we were able to carefully remove and reuse. Some of the trims were still on the shade, and in good enough condition, to show us what to look for with the final touches.
We were proud to show her the results when she made the trip back to pick it up after completion.
Both she and her grandmother were excited and happy with the final product!
We are pleased that we include restoration or replication in our work. A wonderful old lamp looks even more spectacular when an original style shade adorns it. We LOVE the follow up emails, sometimes hand written thank you cards and pictures. Hearing the compliments from the client that the shade is back in its rightful place, on the lamp and in their home, and that it looks just like they remembered it from back in the day are some of our favorite things to hear.
コメント