We recently connected with Mitchell Antesky and have shared our conversation below.
Mitchell, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Keeping creativity alive is a constant process. When I push myself, I often fall flat. I find it must be organic and as it begins, you must be prepared to let it flow and see where it takes you. Sometimes the path is a dead end, other times it’ll take you off a artistic cliff. I find one project spurs an idea, or ideas, for others. I enjoy the concept of “variations on a theme” where I will try several options and let them build on each other. Sometimes the results are improvements, other times, a step backward.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My husband Scott and I bought the Toledo Lamp Company in December of 2020. Opening a retail store in the middle of a pandemic was a little stupid, a little brave or some of both. The studio was just 2 blocks from our downtown Toledo warehouse district loft. Our goal was always to grow the business from the expanded hobby that it had been since originally founded in 2015 to something more retail based while maintaining an art edge. Of course I have since admitted that I also thought I would be happy selling one lamp a week. Since that time we have built and upcycled thousands of lamps and literally utter the words often, “there isn’t enough hours in the week to keep up”.
I do most of the designing (I guess I’m the brains at this point) and then I hand the work off to Scott, the tall one, and tell him to “Make this light up”! (He is then the brawn). It’s a good working arrangement and wouldn’t want it any other way.
Now our dream of expanding is coming true as we are currently in the process of relocating to a new storefront over 3 times as large as our current location and we are doubling our workroom space in order to create, more, bigger and even more outrageous lamps and custom pieces. It is bittersweet to leave downtown but our new location in Sylvania, Ohio has the potential to expose our art to a wonderful neighbor that is filled with galleries and boutiques. More sales floor space provides the opportunity to continue our work with local artists and will be offering a wider variety of home and gift items, ranging from prints, soaps, candles, ceramics and more along with works for sale by local authors and film makers.
We are not your grandmothers lamp store, if you’re looking for a brass or ceramic lamp, odds are you aren’t going to find it in our store. We hand build iron pipe lamps with household gas line pipes and fittings, many with an industrial or steampunk vibe and do our part to save space in local landfills by recycling, reusing and reimagining unexpected items into what we hope are quirky lamps.
Our colorful gumball machine lamps and blender lamps are favorites. We make lamps out of nearly anything, skateboards, fire extinguishers, parking meters, steno machines, sausage presses, and nearly all types of musical instruments, not to mention parts of planes, trains and automobiles. This aspect of our business has caught on and now clients bring us family heirloom pieces to get out of the basement and into the living room so they can tell others their family history. These are certainly what we call, the conversation starter lamp.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. Determination has to be a quality that needs to be refreshed constantly. There has to be a drive that forces you to keep on working even when exhausted, to push yourself to meet deadlines, to work when you hurt, it is about both the journey and the prize at the end.
2. When it comes to perfecting or even discovering your skills, it’s cliché but you must just “go for it”. Don’t hold back and over think or question yourself. If you even think somewhere way in the back of your creative brain that something is possible, make it happen. It may not be easy, it may not happen on the first, second, third or more tries, but keep trying. There is always another way, it just wasn’t the first way you thought something could be done.
3. We didn’t necessarily have much knowledge about pipes and fittings when we bought a business that was based around those items. We learned lessons along the way every day and with each lamp we discovered more and more, and you never stop learning, accept that and be a sponge.
Be your own worst critic and biggest cheerleader at the same time, the results will be both humbling and powerful.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
Our growing business itself has been our biggest challenge. Luckily, that is a good problem to have. Sales are on the rise weekly and more custom work orders fill the white board to-do list. Time management is something we struggle with, both in trying to meet the requirements we set for ourselves as far as production and also trying to manage to have time away from the studio to enjoy life and have some occasional fun.
Finding the balance of personal time and work can certainly be a struggle. We both want more and more success for the business but not at the expense of our own health, well being and a wonderful marriage. The decision to relocate our store at this time was not planned. We have always strived for added opportunities for the business…but that was “someday”.
Unexpectedly when the right location and the right price etc. came along, we had to act fast even knowing it would be a challenge, but for the advancement of all we have dreamed of, we had to move forward despite knowing that time would be against us. Full time “day jobs” still had to be kept and there would have to be some creative financing.
Contact Info:
- Website: ToledoLampCompany.com
- Instagram: Toledo Lamp Company
- Facebook: Toledo Lamp Company
- Twitter: Toledo Lamp Company
- Youtube: Toledo Lamp Company
- Yelp: Toledo Lamp Company
- Other: TikTok and Threads both as Toledo Lamp Company
