We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lindsay and Robert MacLeod. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lindsay and Robert below.
Hi Lindsay and Robert, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
We learned to design and build lanterns the old fashioned way- by apprenticeship. Working under master craftsman, John M.Gantt, we had the opportunity to learn every aspect of making a copper gas or electric lantern, all by hand. From concept sketch to scaled drawing, drawing out patterns with hand-tools like a French Curve and laying them out on a flat sheet of copper, cutting, bending, and soldering, everything revolved around attention to detail and accuracy. He was a generous tutor and was quick to teach us new skills as he went about his daily routines. And coming into his workshop at a time when every little thing was done by hand meant that we not only learned the skills necessary to make lanterns, but we learned an art form, where the only limitation was your imagination.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
We’re Robert and Lindsay MacLeod, and we are Khalima Lights. Founded in 2007, we began designing and building custom bespoke light fixtures for clients around our hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. We work together in our home workshop on Wadmalaw Island, SC. Still going strong 15 years later, our lanterns are lighting up historic and fine homes all over South Carolina, our work has been featured in hotels and restaurants all over the United States, and our business has grown to include a line of handmade lighting sold online and shipped all over the world. We’re sought out by designers and architects for our custom fixtures specifically, as we work with our clients to design interior and exterior lighting especially for individual homes and commercial spaces taking into account the necessary scale, architectural details, and individual needs of each space. We are UL certified manufacturers as well, which allows us to UL list bespoke electrical fixtures. This provides an invaluable service to designers, enabling them to bring their lighting visions to life for both residential and commercial projects, breaking them out of the constraints of pre-made lighting from big-box companies. What we’re most proud of as business owners is our commitment to maintaining the artistry of our trade and keeping our business small and personable. When a client calls the number listed on our website, the phone is answered by myself or Robert. We design and build all of our fixtures ourselves. I answer every email. We get to know our clients. These are hard things to do in this modern automated world, and we both wear a lot of hats every day, but we believe this method of doing business is worth it and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
We’d always wanted to be able to use our creativity in our work one way or another, but what drove us to push through set backs and hold on until we grew enough to make ends meet and get Khalima Lights standing on its own two feet was really our love for our family. I’d heard a statistic somewhere along the line as I worked at various jobs that the vast majority of a person’s waking hours were spent with coworkers, not with people who were dear to them. That didn’t sit well with us. When our son was born, we knew our happiest place was at home with him. So Robert, being the amazing guy that he is, found a way to facilitate that by building a modest workshop and sourcing tools for us to work from home. We love our little country homestead life! We homeschool and grow, hunt, and gather our food; and we learn something from each other every day. We also love knowing that our art will last. Copper and brass last forever- they don’t rust or corrode. So the thought that 50 years from now our son will be able to walk the streets of downtown Charleston and show his grandchildren the lights that their great-grandma and grandpa made for this or that building and how they did their work motivates us to keep making these special pieces of functional art.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
One of the very first custom jobs we were ever approached to do (and the first restaurant job we were asked to do) was for a designer we admired and very much wanted to work with. As coppersmiths, we had developed a fixture called the Camellia, which was a sculptural copper frame covered in handmade paper. The Camellias are a medium sized light at around 10” wide and 12” tall, and hang from an antique replica cloth twist electrical cord . The designer had her eye on a similar concept but different shape, and sized at 48” wide and 16” tall. In the meeting with her, Robert, who is a welder, proposed fabricating the large cages from aluminum instead of copper. It would be crucial to keep the weight low enough to still hang from a thin cord and at that size, the copper wire we use to create these cages wouldn’t retain its shape. Aluminum was the only metal that would fit the bill. She was on board, and we got the job. On the way home I told Robert that I hadn’t known he could weld aluminum, and I was very impressed! And he confidently told me that he didn’t, but that he would learn. Talk about “fake it till you make it”! Thankfully there was a long lead time on that job, because steel and aluminum are two different animals when it comes to welding! But he persevered, put in the hard work, and learned how, and he built all fourteen of those enormous pendant shades which I then covered in beautiful cream linen paper. The designer loved them. That job opened the door to many others, and now if anyone is in need of a fixture welded, whether it be steel, stainless, or aluminum, I know a guy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.khalimalights.com
- Instagram: @khalimalights
- Youtube: Khalima Lights
Image Credits
Nickie Stone