Skinflint find and restore midcentury lighting

Once they’ve found the right pieces, they soda blast, polish, lacquer and / or rewire them to give them a new lease of life, bringing them up to today’s safety standards in the process, all without compromising their character. With over a thousand types of vintage and industrial lighting under their belts, they’ve made a beautiful short film to show us just how it’s done.

“At Skinflint, we’re always searching for disused lighting with a classic, industrial quality. Often, we find lights on sourcing trips to former Eastern Bloc countries, but we also keep a watch for redevelopments and demolitions closer to home.”

“Gaining access to the former Pirelli warehouse or Cockenzie Power Station, for example, meant we could salvage dozens of vintage lights that might otherwise have been lost.”

“The restoration process each light undergoes takes many months. With the reclaimed lights safely in our UK warehouse, the slow process of restoration begins. We gently disassemble each light fitting into its individual parts, letting us spot any flaws and plan how best to bring it up to modern electrical standards.”

“Then our local experts patiently restore each component by hand. Typically, this might mean: soda-blasting – an environmentally friendly way to remove old paint; polishing – to protect the light’s surfaces from further deterioration; lacquering – to restore enamel fittings to their original finish; and rewiring – so the light works perfectly, every time. Finally, we reassemble the light with brand new electrical components.”

“Great care is taken to understand each light’s history. Collecting every shred of information we can find, from original catalogues to vintage photographs we try to piece together each light’s own story.”

“Every light is individually reviewed, its path through refurbishment carefully mapped and tailored. Depending on the wear and condition, we might choose to strip back, soda-blast or polish and lacquer the fitting to restore or enhance its original look.”

“Often, though, wear and oxidisation can add to a light’s interest, and make its history visible. This takes careful judgement, and we have developed treatments based on museums’ archival techniques to keep the integrity of the surface patina but prevent the light from degrading further.
Whether we have a single item or a run of hundreds, the process is the same.”

“All restoration work takes place within a 10km radius of the Skinflint Studios in Cornwall by a dedicated team of specialists – our local experts patiently restore each component by hand, not only does this reduce the carbon footprint of our lights, but it means we are also contributing to our local economy.”

“Skinflint lights have an inherent character that only comes with age, making each one unique. The lights we restore were built at a time before the concept of planned obsolescence and were engineered to last- some are nearly a century old. After we have restored and retired them they will last for generations to come.”