Check Out Robert and Lindsay MacLeod’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Robert and Lindsay MacLeod.

Robert and Lindsay, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Our journey into coppersmithing and lantern making began in 2004 with an apprenticeship under John M. Gantt, a renowned lantern maker in Charleston, SC. Before that, the word “coppersmith” was not in either of our vocabularies, and the only lanterns we were familiar with were ones used for camping. A friend at church, who was connected with the company, had offered Robert a job learning to build lanterns. It sounded intriguing, but Robert had just taken a new job with a roofing company and didn’t want to leave. But I had worked for the library for a long time and was ready for something new, I just didn’t know what. Knowing that I’d always loved art and crafty things, Robert volunteered me, and I went in for an “interview” although I had no idea what that would entail. I came in normal interview attire – a long skirt and nice blouse. Mr. Gantt, who was in his early 80’s, looked me up and down and said, “This is a jeans and t-shirt operation. You think you can handle that?” I responded with a quick, “Yes, sir.” My willingness seemed to make up for my inappropriate attire and he cheerily led me around the workshop and had me try out a few of the sheet metal tools. I guess he was impressed that I didn’t let my skirt stop me from cutting copper on the big step-shear because the next thing I knew I had been offered the job of apprentice coppersmith. Meanwhile, Robert was learning about copper in the form of making standing seam roofs, large-scale pope’s caps for chimneys, and other architectural elements for fine homes. It was fun coming home at night and comparing copper stories. The most hilarious was when I admitted to him that I had forgotten how to read a ruler (Honestly, I hadn’t needed to do it since elementary school!) and had gotten a little fun poked at me at the shop that day. He promptly found a scrap 2×4 and made me a very large-scale ruler with each measurement written out so that I could memorize them. A little embarrassing, but really quite helpful until I got the hang of it all. Working under Mr. Gantt proved to be a pivotal point in our family’s life. We had the opportunity to learn the trade of truly handcrafting gas and electric lanterns from a single sheet of copper, where each individual component was sketched out, drawn to scale, measured and cut, bent on a hand break, and soldered together to create beautiful one-of-a-kind pieces of what could only be called functional art. There was no water jet, no shortcuts; just hard work that took a long time and was extremely satisfying when you could step back and see the beautiful light you’d made from scratch. Making roof patterns, bending scrolls, fabricating trim, all of it was just part of the everyday work in the shop. The three other craftsmen who had been with him for years before I arrived were a wealth of knowledge and patiently helped me to fine-tune my skills. Robert loved hanging out too when he’d come to pick me up, and we just soaked up the time of creativity and the excitement of learning something so new and different. And probably the sweetest thing that came out of that time was the story of my great-grandfather. My grandpa had come to visit and he and my grandmother came out to the workshop one day to see what I did for my new job. When he came to my workbench and saw what I was making, he started to tear up. He told me that his dad, my great grandfather who I’d never met, had been a coppersmith in Saratoga Springs, New York in the 1920’s to 1940’s. He had a shop downtown and the family lived above it. My grandpa was so proud that I was carrying on a family tradition. That absolutely meant the world to me.

Eventually, I left my job with Mr. Gantt to stay home and start a family. Robert still worked in the construction field. After our son was born though, there was a need for some extra income. We knew that I was going to stay home with him, no second-guessing that, but how to earn another income at the same time was not easy to figure out. We prayed and prayed. And one day I was hunting around online for some fabric to make a baby blanket and discovered Etsy. When we were getting the nursery ready for our son, we made some really pretty little lights because we couldn’t find what we had in mind. We had a woodland theme going on and made a tree sculpture on one wall that spread out onto the ceiling. We wanted little woodsy looking lights to hang from the tree branches, so we made some out of copper and handmade paper. They were beautiful and perfect in his room. A friend had come to photograph the nursery, so we decided to try starting an Etsy shop and put our lights out there into cyberspace to see if anyone might be interested. It was slow at first, but over time we had more and more orders coming into the point where it was so busy that I needed help to keep up. I asked Robert to stay home and help me, which he happily did. We also began getting requests from people who knew what we did to make lanterns for them. We both enjoyed designing lanterns of our own, and when the opportunity came to design some for a new historic-style home being built on Wadmalaw, we jumped at the chance. That put us into contact with some important designers, builders, and architects, and the rest has come since then. Now we have our own website (and still have our Etsy shop) where we sell interior fixtures that ship all over the world, our lights are in hotels and restaurants across the US, and we have had the opportunity to design and build custom gas and electric lanterns for some of the most beautiful historic homes here in Charleston.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Well, nothing was exactly smooth in 2008 and 2009 which is when we were just figuring out how to get Khalima Lights off the ground, but I will say that we definitely saw God work on our behalf in ways that we could have never dreamed; the chance to see His care for us and faithfulness in our lives was something that we wouldn’t trade for all the ease in the world.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
At the core of Khalima Lights, we are artists. Our aim is to fuse function with design to create art in the form of light. We specialize in custom handcrafted copper lanterns, both gas, and electric. When we are brought in on a project, we visit the site (either in person or through photos), observe the architecture of the building and surrounding area, and get to know the taste of the client. From there we design a lantern that is appropriate for the building both in style and scale. It’s our goal to make the fixture look as if it had always been a part of the home. We then return to our workshop on Wadmalaw Island and build the lantern from a single sheet of copper and our hand tools. Each piece is made by hand and the end result is a light that is special and unique, something that will last for generations and add value to the home by both the style and story. We carry on a tradition that is quickly disappearing from the building trades, as the lighting industry becomes more and more automated in every facet. Our hope is that our work will be valued into future generations and that one day our grandchildren will be able to walk the streets of Charleston and see the lights that their grandparents made still shining brightly.

What makes you happy?
Lots of things… the flowers and trees, fireflies, the colors of the sunset over the fields up the road from our house, good waves (Robert loves to surf), those moments when you have a chance to teach an important life lesson to a child and they get it, laughing with friends. All these are simple things that come often, but sometimes we’re too busy to notice them and soak them in. But when we do, they just make us thankful and grateful that we get to have these little glimpses of beauty in our lives.

Contact Info:

• Email: craftsmen@khalimalights.com
• Website: khalimalights.com
• Instagram: @khalimalights
• Facebook: Khalima Lights Workshop

Image Credits
Nickie Stone