When Joyce Carroll found an oil lamp about 20 years ago, it was the start of a passion as well as a business.
“I didn’t know what it was. So, I checked it out, talked to people and it just grew from there. I have a wonderful oil lamp collection at home,” Carroll said.
Carroll owns Joyce’s Early Lighting, a shop that sells antique lighting and other vintage items. She is one of the independent antique dealers who rents a space within The Tomato Factory in Hopewell.
Carroll, who has been at The Tomato Factory for about six years, originally sold her products from within a florist shop in Lawrenceville. She says her current location at The Tomato Factory is a popular stop for collectors from around the country.
“People come here, it’s like a destination for them,” Carroll said. “I have a customer base all the way down to Florida, all the way over to California, huge customer base. They’ll come in for the weekend in this area, and they’ll go home with a chandelier headed for North Carolina.”
Carroll said that customers from out of town will often look for antique shops on the Internet before they start their travels.
Aside from antique collectors, another demographic makes up a large part of Carroll’s customer base.
“A lot of young people have interest now,” she said. “They’ll put an old table lamp on a new table and it’s fun to mix it up. There’s a certain coziness that it can create.”
Joyce’s Early Lighting sells a variety of antique lighting including converted gas lighting, Victorian items, and arts and crafts lamps. Chandeliers are among her most popular items, she said.
“There is nothing nicer than an old chandelier because of the craftsmanship, the quality of the work. (There’s) just no comparison, 100 years ago and now” she said.
Carroll said she finds her products in a number of places, including estate sales, yard sales and auction houses. Her husband, Brian, also helps her find new pieces.
Once Carroll and Brian acquire the pieces, they restore them to their original states. The antique lights are rewired and cleaned, Carroll said. Brian does a lot of the wiring work, as well as sandblasting and polishing. Carroll works with elements such as glass and crystals.
Carroll said her research and experience with antique lighting helps her identify the time periods and manufacturers of many products.
The restoration process is one of the things Carroll enjoys the most. Joyce’s Early Lighting also offers restoration services to the general public. Carroll said that unlike many dealers who offer rewiring, her shop offers a full line of refurbishing services such as polishing, re-coloring and replacing parts.
Carroll said she has been working with antique lighting for so long that she can visualize how an item will look after it is restored. She said the transformations are dramatic.
“I have a passion for antique lighting,” she said. “Probably the most satisfying is to see something come home dirty and mangled and everything, and be able to put some time into it and bring it back to something of respect and beauty. It’s very satisfying, it really is.”
Joyce’s Early Lighting is located within The Tomato Factory at 2 Somerset St. in Hopewell. It is open Monday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On the web: joycesearlylighting.com and thetomatofactory.com.
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