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Josh Bauserman of Haven Electrical
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Name: Josh Bauserman
Business: Haven Electrical
What He Makes: Transforms construction castoffs and found objects into one-of-a-kind pendants, chandeliers, sconces, table lamps and more.
A Recent Project: He designed and built Run of the River, the new guest services center in the Robins Nature Center at Maymont, featuring life-size backlit silhouettes of native fish.
How It Started: The ideas for Josh Bauserman’s lighting designs come from a dark place. “I’m a big guy — 6 foot, 5 inches tall, with long hair and a beard, covered with tattoos and scared to death,” he says with disarming candor. For much of his life, he has struggled with disabling anxiety. “When I have anxiety, my mind races to dark places,” he explains. So he makes lights. They are a distraction, an opportunity to focus on something other than the unease that consumes him. “I keep a notebook of drawings and inspiration,” he says. “When I’m having a hard time, I go through the notebook, choose one and build it. They push my dark thoughts into the light.”
How It Works: Bauserman is a licensed electrician and owner of Haven Electrical. His creations emerge at the intersection of his art and his craft, where scrap metal and found objects become pendant lights, chandeliers, sconces, table lamps, desk lamps and floor lamps. “I’m making things out of what would deteriorate or be destroyed — bringing it back to life again,” he says.
The wires and bulbs, switches, and connectors that make Bauserman’s designs work are completely concealed. Light somehow spills out of a narrow channel that runs the full length of a 5-foot walnut beam; a curve of liquid light pours from a matte-black pipe; thick slices of light are sandwiched between slabs of Siberian larch wood; a spangle of 200 twinkling copper wires tumbles like a waterfall. We’re drawn to the lights by what we cannot see.
Where to Find It: Bauserman’s work can be found on Instagram @havenelectrical. Orders can be placed through DM there or via email at havenelectrical1985@gmail.com.
