As they helped clients curate the look of their homes, Emily Wilson and Jennifer Kalman always enjoyed getting to the stage of picking out lighting elements that cultivate a mood or add warmth to a space.
But it was at that point where they'd hit some common roadblocks, such as what their client wanted being unavailable or items being overly expensive. The pair of designers were also drawn to using wooden features that were popular with clients, but they struggled to find ethically and sustainably made pieces.
Met with those challenges, the pair decided to address them all themselves.
The architectural designers turned entrepreneurs made another career pivot to woodworkers as they launched A Light Studio in Victoria about a year ago. While bringing customizable light fixtures to customers has been at the forefront, the duo is also challenging the wasteful status quo within the lumber industry and the 'fast furniture' trends of today.
Kalman said they can make durable pieces from wood that was destined to be burned, shredded into sawdust or trashed altogether.
“It’s really nice that we can find beauty and potential in something that is otherwise really disregarded," she said.
In their small shop, mostly salvaged wood is hung up to be dried until it's ready to be hand-shaped into sconses, lamps and other light fixtures that are enduring in both quality and style. They also started an 'off-cuts' collection where they take small wooden leftovers and turn them into candle holders, small dishes or coat hooks.
The studio co-founders admit their hesitance to discard any wooden bits reveals their hoarder tendencies, but that only led to them to finding creative ways to give a second life to pieces that would've ended up in the trash.
“We’re trying to reduce (wood being thrown away) as much as possible and the waste that we do generate we collect and try to put it towards good uses,” Wilson said, adding the scraps they do end up with are sorted and used in landscaping or pressed into fire-starters.
The pair tries to minimize the distance their materials have to travel as they source them mainly from the Island, the Lower Mainland or the U.S. They get parts from a glass blower in Vancouver, while nearby manufacturers just down the road from their Rock Bay studio provide them wood and metal pieces.
The designers' waste-cutting aspirations come from seeing how much usable product is currently wasted by the wood manufacturing industry. The pair added that only a fraction of every tree cut down for manufacturing ends up being used in those products.
A Light Studio aims to use as much salvaged wood as possible and its founders have been known to scour Facebook Marketplace or other online forums to track down trees that have to come down in Greater Victoria. The studio has received trees pieces from people who are clearing out their woodsheds, from local mills and from residents having to cut down trees on their property.
“A really fun part of it is kind of letting the wood inform what it should be,” Kalman said. ”Just looking at it and being inspired by its raw state is something that we get a lot of joy from and it's another fun challenge as designers.”
They're regularly on the lookout for Garry oaks and Arbutus trees as they want to ensure parts from those locally cherished species don't go to waste if they have to be cut down.
“Arbutus, I think people care about it so much because it is so special, we’re one of the only places in the world where it grows,” Kalman said. "As designers and makers who are bringing more stuff into the world, it needs to be thoughtful and intentional and well-crafted, and not just to create more waste.”
Whereas imperfections like knots or cracks would see other producers disqualify entire pieces of wood, the designers see those unique aspects as creative challenges that deserve to be celebrated.
“We’re not afraid to make a little more work to prevent something from just being thrown away and having that expressed in the pieces is always really nice,” Kalman said.
The pair grew up in Calgary but didn't meet until Wilson was Kalman's teaching assistant when they were studying architecture at Dalhousie University. By chance, they ended up as interns at the same firm in Victoria. The two then started their own design firm Man and Son in 2020, but they sought more hands-on work and had mused about how fun it would be to make their own lighting.
Wilson said A Light Studio was a perfect blend of things that brings them satisfaction because they get to tackle wider issues about consumption, while also getting to connect to their products as they work away in the shop.
While their process moves a bit slower at a time when society wants things instantly, Wilson said people are realizing the value of something that will last a lifetime. Consumers are also increasingly conscious about where their goods came from, whether workers got a fair wage to make them and whether those products were mass produced, she added.
“A real person is making all of these things and we just want to bring that to the forefront and show the craft and care that goes into everything we make,” Wilson said. “When you use quality materials and make something that’s built durably and designed thoughtfully, it helps make it last and go beyond trends."
The studio has a series of designs, but it leaves the door open for clients to make customizations based on their needs. Kalman said they get a lot of joy out of tailoring products to someone's space and staying flexible also keeps it fun for them as designers.
After gaining some recognition in their first year, the designers intend to get their products in some showrooms so more people can interact with their lights. Wilson said they want the industry takes note of what they're doing and they hope A Light Studio can inspire change on a larger scale.
“I think that can have a lasting impact," Wilson said.
