About Us
Welcome to East Van Light
My name is Dan, and I LOVE to create! I live in Vancouver, Canada where I recently left my full time gig in the film and television industry to pursue my passion of designing & building lighting products!
East Van Light designs and builds refined industrial lamps, with engaging modern designs. Combining locally sourced premium hardwoods, tactile hardware, and reproduction Edison light bulbs, each lamp delivers warm ambient light and a refined industrial aesthetic that inspires the work, repose, curiosity and conversation of those around it. I strive to design lamps that are subtle in support of the spaces they inhabit, while simultaneously engaging the audience that surrounds them.
Attention to detail is paramount to the design process - ensuring that each block showcases the finest grain features of the wood slab from which they came, through to the antique colours and styling of the houndstooth fabric woven lamp cords, the shine of the polished brass and nickel hardware, the texture of the dimmer switches and the warmth of the tungsten filament bulbs; these tactile elements add rich layers to your interaction with the product, and it's because of these details that I am certain you will enjoy your East Van Light for many years to come.
All of our lamps are UL Certified, and proudly handcrafted in small batches in East Vancouver, British Columbia.
A Brief History of East Van Light
My journey into East Van Light began as a 10 year adventure in flipping houses, beginning in 2004 in Montreal, Canada - gutting homes to the beams and revitalizing them into fresh new spaces. My favourite part was always re-wiring the electrical and installing all the new plugs, switches and fixtures into the homes. Falling into lamp design was a happy fluke that came out of my desire to continue doing some form of electrical project outside of flipping houses, and scaled down in scope.
The 'bright idea' arrived in July 2013. After having completed another home renovation, I was left with some scrap Birch wood, and an interesting looking antique reproduction Edison lightbulb that I had recently received as a gift. Holding the wood in one hand, and the bulb in the other, it became clear that they would look wonderful together, and from there my first prototype lamps were made. I still use them in my house today!
Later that year I made the big move to Vancouver, BC, and settled in the heart of the Commercial Drive neighbourhood, in East Van. It quickly became evident to me how prevalent the “buy local” attitude was here in the neighbourhood, and all around the city. The more I looked, the more I was discovering the incredible wealth of talented and passionate creators working hard at doing the things that they loved to do. Being exposed to all of this here in my own community inspired me to make a few more lamps and get them out there for others to enjoy as much as I did. And so it began...
I love to create, and I love learning new things. For me, East Van Light is as much about curiosity and the excitement of new discoveries, as it is about lighting and lamps. It’s not just about THINGS, and how they LOOK, it's about EXPERIENCES, and how they make you FEEL. I really enjoy people's reactions when they discover East Van Light for the first time, and am thankful that they too are connecting with it in a meaningful way. It's thanks to your curiosity and excitement that East Van Light gets to continue forward.
Dan EmeryDesigner/Maker - September 2017