Posted by When you encounter a truly lasting design it stays with you. The Movado watch face. The London Double-Decker Bus. Your favorite down pillow. And now, the French Quarter Lamp.
They are everywhere – flickering out of the corner of your eye, gracing homes big and small, part of the New Orleans landscape. The brainchild of Andrew Bevelo, Sr, who started his business in 1945 after stints with Ford, Sikorsky and Higgins. Using copper parts, rivets, and hand assembly, the company Bevolo | Copper Gas Lamps & Electric Lights is in its third generation of making a quality product built to last.
Current owner Drew Bevelo came up the hard way under his uncle’s firm guidance, learning the skill of copper smithing from the beginning. As he puts it, “After a successful stock broker career in Baton Rouge, I came down to New Orleans to help my Uncle Jimmy, the company’s second-generation owner, with the family business,” says Bevolo. “The company was in a natural state of transition, as most of the old world artisans were becoming harder and harder to find in an increasingly high-tech world.”
We wandered into the factory off Royal Street and back in time. Watching the craftsman meticulously create the gleaming copper lamp frame, surrounded by walls that told the story of the company’s evolution, we knew we were in the presence of something real and very special.
Long may their light endure! (Jen)