The Lamplighter Legacy

Before we could flip a switch, piercing the darkness with light took effort and often required a ladder or a wick with a long pole.

Public street lighting was first developed in the 16th century. At the time, candles and oil lamps lit the way along dark cobblestone roads.

Lamplighters were tasked with maintaining the street lights throughout a neighborhood. By dusk, you could see them on their routes, lighting each whale oil lamp one by one. By dawn, they returned to snuff out every lamp.

In the 19th century, gas lights replaced candles and oil lamps, but the responsibilities of lamplighters grew. Over 25,000 lamplighters in London tended to the gas lamps on every street in the city. In Baltimore, there were nearly 5,000 gas lamps, maintained by more than 100 lamplighters.

Today, electricity and timers have rendered the duties of a lamplighter obsolete. In London, only five lamplighters remain. What’s the use of a lamplighter in a world where illuminating the darkness is as effortless as programming a timer? No need for ladders. No need for wicks. No need for lamplighters.

The truth is that lamplighters did more than bring light. Records indicate that they also served as night watchmen. Considered trustworthy and reliable, a lamplighter brought a sense of safety and reassurance to residents through the warm glow of a gas lamp. Darkness had been overcome.

At Idaho Wood, we consider ourselves modern-day lamplighters. Like those who completed their routes in London, Vienna, Baltimore and Philadelphia, our mission is similar: to build an enduring community that manifests light. We do that through our natural, solid-wood lights, as well as through how we care for our customers, partners and people and the way we operate our small company, which is celebrating 50 years in business this year.

Reflecting on the Principles of Lighting

To be a modern-day lamplighter requires more than just honoring the sacred duty of manifesting. It means applying the principles of architectural lighting design.

Few have been more instrumental in defining those principles than the pioneering lighting designer, Richard Kelly.

In 1952, Kelly gave a lecture titled “Lighting as an Integral Part of Architecture” to a packed house of architects, engineers and industrial designers in Cleveland, Ohio. It was the first time he presented his three principles of lighting, which have gone on to become pillars of architectural lighting:

1. Ambient Luminescence

2. Focal Glow

3. Play of Brilliants

In his words, Kelly describes ambient luminescence as “...the uninterrupted light of a snowy morning in the open country. It is fog light at sea in a small boat, it is twilight haze on a wide river where shore and water and sky are indistinguishable. It is in any art gallery with strip-lighted walls, translucent ceiling and white floor. Ambient light produces shadowless illumination. It minimizes form and bulk.”

Curating Light

The lamplighters of old were participants in the curation of light. Their skills helped to shape outdoor spaces after dark and play a role in the choreography of the lives that passed beneath. Today, lighting designers and manufacturers bear a similar responsibility. They are extended an invitation to curate the experience of light and to design spaces that tell stories and evoke feelings. To accept this invitation—we have come to believe—is a high calling.

Behind the Scenes at Idaho Wood Lighting

The Knot

Light is powerful, use it properly.  

Great outdoor lighting achieves ambience often with very little illumination, a recognition that it takes only a few well-placed and tastefully designed lights to create incredible spaces. This adds depth and builds visual intrigue while also preserving natural nighttime habitats. This principle of outdoor lighting speaks to a deeper truth: it takes only a little light to overcome the darkness.