Established in 1993 by artist M.E. Messenheimer, ALCHEMY LAMPS is a design studio located in Topanga Canyon, CA that specializes in Functional Art. Although Messenheimer has designed a variety of furniture pieces, he is best known for his architectural lamps “built using distinctive metal artifacts from the Industrial Age.” Materials for the lamps come from a wide range of sources including surplus from JPL / NASA and Boeing Aerospace programs, antique hardware brokers, shipyards, railroad and airplane graveyards, and desert gas stations. The studio’s latest series was, in fact, named ROUTE 66 because inspiration for the design and the first lamp parts (hubcaps that would later become lampshades) were both found during a drive through the desert along the storied highway.
Each lamp is a unique, original, one of a kind “lighting-sculpture” that is signed and numbered by the artist. As of July 2002, Alchemy Lamps Studio has produced over 1,000 lamps that now grace homes, offices, and public spaces throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Due to the studio’s location and the artist’s 25 year career as a Hollywood cameraman and Director of Photography, it is not surprising that nearly half of ALCHEMY LAMPS customers work in the entertainment industry. Motorola, Nordstrums, MTV and Caldwell-Banker are among the corporate clientele that use Alchemy Lamps to light their lobbies, executive offices and merchandising displays. Messenheimer and his lamps have been featured in several of the design industries top publications, including Interior Design, Architectural Digest, Dwell, Elle Décor, High Points , and Abitare, an Italian interior design magazine. In a feature story about vintage metal furniture, the Los AngelesTimes characterized ALCHEMY LAMPS designs as “… jibing perfectly with the industrial aesthetic. The lamps appear at once antique and modern. An ode to the Industrial Revolution and all things metal.”
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