Hi, my name is Tom. I’m the founder of Lumen Owl.
Here’s the story of how I got here.
How many times do we see a childhood hobby or passion manifest itself in future businesses?
It’s a very good question, and one I’ve been thinking about on and off for most of my adult life.
My fascination with electrics and lighting in particular came at an extremely young age. I’m told I wired my first plug by my fourth birthday, and it quickly escalated from there. My (even then) long-suffering Mum and Dad have likely lost count of how many times I dragged them around the (sadly now long gone) Greenwich ‘junk’ market, coming home with a treasure trove of old lamps, Christmas lights and various vintage radios. At some point, I had a collection of lightbulbs from all over the world, numbering in the hundreds. It also seems when I wasn’t busy hunting for or dismantling something electrical, I was sketching it instead!
Much later on, my other passion (film and post-production) lead me into a university course and subsequent career in the film industry. It’s fantastic, challenging work, and something I truly love. However, a huge part of me simply missed the magic I felt when I produced even a rudimentary lamp in my youth.
Fast forward a few more years, and enter a sudden, worldwide event that’s doubtlessly caused so many people to reassess every aspect of their lives: Covid-19.
I was fortunate enough to spend the duration of the spring lockdown with my Mum on the North Norfolk coast. Having escaped the rat race of London, and, due to furlough, finding myself very suddenly without a full-time job to keep me occupied, I began slowly rediscovering my passion for lamp making. It started innocently enough, accompanying Mum around a garden centre, picking up the odd flower pot I thought might make an interesting table lamp base. Then came the odd beach stone or piece of driftwood. Within a few weeks, my Mum’s little summerhouse had become a full-time lighting workshop, with packages of lighting components arriving every day. This enabled me to create table, floor and even ceiling lamps. There’s no way to explain the feeling it gave me without sounding cliched or contrived, but it completely reignited a fire in me.
I returned to London at the end of June, my head filled with the resounding encouragement from Mum and Dad, my partner and my friends who had spent the last few months imploring me to “just bloody do it, because it makes you so happy!”.
So, I just bloody did it! I founded Lumen Owl, a name born out of my love for both animals and of the word ‘lumen’ (the measurement of visible light emitted from a source per unit of time).
Things then happened very quickly. I began sourcing items I found amazing, alongside the more practical, such as earning a PAT qualification and greatly improving my skillsets with various tools and disciplines. I have a real soft spot for vintage glassware, and in particular 60’s and 70’s West German pottery, so you’ll be seeing a lot both cropping up in the collections I am producing.
What I’m enjoying most so far about this new adventure is I’m collecting beautiful items and giving them an entirely new purpose and lease of life, and therefore bringing them to new audiences. Every item I make is completely unique and handcrafted with love.
If you have any questions, or perhaps have an item hanging about you’d love to see turned into a lamp, please get in touch, as I’m very happy to undertake commissions.
Thanks for stopping by Lumen Owl.
Cheers,
Tom
Here’s the story of how I got here.
How many times do we see a childhood hobby or passion manifest itself in future businesses?
It’s a very good question, and one I’ve been thinking about on and off for most of my adult life.
My fascination with electrics and lighting in particular came at an extremely young age. I’m told I wired my first plug by my fourth birthday, and it quickly escalated from there. My (even then) long-suffering Mum and Dad have likely lost count of how many times I dragged them around the (sadly now long gone) Greenwich ‘junk’ market, coming home with a treasure trove of old lamps, Christmas lights and various vintage radios. At some point, I had a collection of lightbulbs from all over the world, numbering in the hundreds. It also seems when I wasn’t busy hunting for or dismantling something electrical, I was sketching it instead!
Much later on, my other passion (film and post-production) lead me into a university course and subsequent career in the film industry. It’s fantastic, challenging work, and something I truly love. However, a huge part of me simply missed the magic I felt when I produced even a rudimentary lamp in my youth.
Fast forward a few more years, and enter a sudden, worldwide event that’s doubtlessly caused so many people to reassess every aspect of their lives: Covid-19.
I was fortunate enough to spend the duration of the spring lockdown with my Mum on the North Norfolk coast. Having escaped the rat race of London, and, due to furlough, finding myself very suddenly without a full-time job to keep me occupied, I began slowly rediscovering my passion for lamp making. It started innocently enough, accompanying Mum around a garden centre, picking up the odd flower pot I thought might make an interesting table lamp base. Then came the odd beach stone or piece of driftwood. Within a few weeks, my Mum’s little summerhouse had become a full-time lighting workshop, with packages of lighting components arriving every day. This enabled me to create table, floor and even ceiling lamps. There’s no way to explain the feeling it gave me without sounding cliched or contrived, but it completely reignited a fire in me.
I returned to London at the end of June, my head filled with the resounding encouragement from Mum and Dad, my partner and my friends who had spent the last few months imploring me to “just bloody do it, because it makes you so happy!”.
So, I just bloody did it! I founded Lumen Owl, a name born out of my love for both animals and of the word ‘lumen’ (the measurement of visible light emitted from a source per unit of time).
Things then happened very quickly. I began sourcing items I found amazing, alongside the more practical, such as earning a PAT qualification and greatly improving my skillsets with various tools and disciplines. I have a real soft spot for vintage glassware, and in particular 60’s and 70’s West German pottery, so you’ll be seeing a lot both cropping up in the collections I am producing.
What I’m enjoying most so far about this new adventure is I’m collecting beautiful items and giving them an entirely new purpose and lease of life, and therefore bringing them to new audiences. Every item I make is completely unique and handcrafted with love.
If you have any questions, or perhaps have an item hanging about you’d love to see turned into a lamp, please get in touch, as I’m very happy to undertake commissions.
Thanks for stopping by Lumen Owl.
Cheers,
Tom