Who Are We
Welcome. Lightworks was started as a hobby business by Charles and Kathryn Dailey in 1997. We began our little venture by repairing and restoring antique and vintage light fixtures. When we secured an account from a national restaurant chain in 1999, our hobby turned into a full-fledged business. In June of 2001, a customer asked us to build a light fixture appropriate to her local Purcell & Elmslie prairie style home. That started us on the road to producing numerous other special custom order lighting, and before we knew it, we were offering over 250 customized historic reproduction models, plus a few one-of-a-kind modern-style fixtures.
Our first rented space was on the unheated and uncooled fourth floor of the 100-year-old Rock Island Building (now Security Lofts Building) located in the historic NorthLoop warehouse district in downtown Minneapolis. We soon moved down to a heated space on the third floor which was only accessible by either climbing a narrow wooden staircase or by taking the aging wooden freight elevator in the center of the building. The freight elevator was notorious for stopping between floors, and we have fond memories of getting out a ladder so we could help people down to the closest floor. We soon moved to the main floor of the building, and as our business grew, so did our staff. From our first employee, Eric, to our latest additions of Vince and Kathlyn, we are proud to have such dedicated and talented people who provide our customers with a unique lighting experience and offer them lighting only found at at our shop.
Our recent move in 2018 to our current location at 1325 Winter Street N.E. was trying but well worth it. We love our new Northeast neighborhood and hope we are here for a long time! Come check us out.
What We Do
Unique and practical lighting combine as one at Lightworks. We offer a diverse assortment of restored antique lighting and a distinctive collection of over 250 custom-made historic reproduction chandeliers, sconces, pendants, flush mount fixtures, and schoolhouse styles all designed and built on-site by our staff. We also design and build modern one-of-a-kind custom-made lighting fixtures. In addition, we offer full repair, rewiring, restoration and refinishing services at our UL listed shop. True to our expertise in working with antique and vintage light fixtures, we do limit our repair services to only fixtures that take screw-in light bulbs (no transformer driven, low voltage or bi-pin socket fixtures).
With our firm commitment to the health of our employees and our planet, we strive to use environmentally-safe finishes and lacquers wherever possible and encourage our customers to re-use what they already have in their homes or to restore whatever treasures they have found elsewhere.
Designing your own light fixture is encouraged here. While most customers choose our standard models, many others freely alter our ready-made fixtures, bring in their own drawings, or combine elements from fixtures they find here, in other stores, or in magazines, catalogs and online. Our customers have a vast selection of designs, finishes, glass shades, and art glass from which to choose for their custom projects.