FALMOUTH — A fixture of Portland’s Old Port for more than 30 years recently closed and moved into the old fire barn at the corner of Middle and Bucknam roads in Falmouth.
Nostalgia Lighting, a shop specializing in custom lighting design and known for its authentic colonial-style fixtures, opened recently at its new location, leaving its sister company, Decorum, without a home for now.
“We hope to bring back the selection of knobs,” said store manager Brian Kinney of the former Decorum.
The plumbing fixtures that were prominently displayed in Portland will be absent from the new location.
However, the custom lighting fixtures Nostalgia Lighting is famous for are displayed in the smaller, more intimate Falmouth shop.
Lighting designer Burr Chase creates all the fixtures in the shop. No two fixtures are the same and customers can create their own designs based on a wide array of glass and brass.
“People come in with a situation that needs a solution,” Chase said.
Often his customers are reconstructing old homes and need a fixture that will fit in and lend an authentic feel to a room. Chase has also designed fixtures for Vignola restaurant in Portland and Stonewall Kitchen.
“I try to feel out what they’re looking for. Everybody brings ideas, sometimes pictures from magazines, and I can create fixtures that jive with their plan,” he said.
Chase has even been known to let customers take the unwired fixtures home to make sure they like what they’re getting before he finishes the work.
“This is not your typical lighting store,” owner Nick Harding said.
But when people stopped buying homes, people stopped buying lighting and the Commercial Street location in Portland got too expensive to rent.
“This building suits us,” Harding said of the refurbished fire barn. “We didn’t want to be in a plaza or a mall, something sterile like that. This building is us.”
The new space also has plenty of parking.
“So far, customers like it,” Harding said.
Emily Parkhurst can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or eparkhurst@theforecaster.net
Sidebar Elements
Lighting designer Burr Chase, 41, and business owner Nick Harding, 64, stand outside the new Nostalgia Lighting store on Middle Road in Falmouth. The business moved from its long-time Commercial Street location in Portland.
Burr Chase tests a fixture he built for a client of Nostalgia Lighting in Falmouth.
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