Rebels with a caus

TALK ABOUT A LIGHTBULB MOMENT – THIS IS CERTAINLY ONE WAY OF LIGHTING UPYOUR LIFE,WRITES

MLIZ CLARKE

OST people are happy to retire at the end of a long working life. Others decide that it is time to wake up and smell the roses. In Maurice and Jenny Strauss’s case, the idea of retiring and putting up their feet was simply out of the question.

“I couldn’t bear the thought,” says a jovial Maurice. “I would have driven everyone mad not having enough to do.”

With a new life journey in mind, the couple set about looking for business opportunities that would suit them both.

“We wanted something that we could set up quite easily and wouldn’t involve travel or huge transport costs,” said Jenny.

At the end of their search they hit on the idea of developing a brand of domestic and commercial lighting. Not the sort you would find on a conventional interiors website, but something that is quite different from the norm.

Explained Maurice: “That’s the thing about going the entrepreneurial route, you have to come up with an idea that has impact and will immediately attract interest.”

If the wow factor was what they were after, it is certainly found in their lighting range, launched 15 months ago, which is as far removed from conventional lighting as chalk from cheese.

Forget pretty lampshades, forget straight up and down lamp stands and forget standard globes. Instead embrace the idea of Steam Punk, including recycled piping, gauges, old world handles and switches, but with the modern touch of dimmers.

At this point 80-year-old grandfather Maurice is happy to admit that lighting had absolutely nothing to do with his career in the property market and had even less to do with his sortie into CV joints that occupied another corner of his working life.

“I like adventure and I love new challenges. Jenny is the same. We have never been frightened of change or trying something new. Just because you are getting older doesn’t mean that you have to put your life on hold. I always say the more you can do the more you can achieve.”

Yes – but Steam Punk. It’s what most of us would associate with a bunch of teenage rebels behaving badly, not something that would suit a retired couple.

“Exactly,” says Maurice with a cheeky grin. “That’s the curiosity factor we were looking for – something that would stop people in their tracks and make them ask questions.”

And who could pass by a lighting arrangement made from oldfashioned steam gauges, adorned with bits and pieces that might have been left over from the Industrial Revolution?

Top that talking piece with special carbon filament Edison light bulbs whose twirling elements talk of another retro age, and there’s no way you can pass by – on this occasion at the Shongweni Market – without asking a question or two.

Jenny says she loves nothing more than being the face of the business.

“I love meeting and chatting to people and explaining the history behind this style of lighting.”

It seems that Steam Punk has its origins in the early days of electricity, when the demand was for equipment to support the new globes.

“The nearest things to hand,” Jenny points out, “were the old gas and steam pipes still with the gauges and handles attached that could be converted to accommodate electricity. We loved the idea of bringing history to life. We also love it when people come up with their own ideas and designs which we are happy to do. After all, innovation and imagination were the starting point all those years ago.”

Think whimsical steam punk cartoonist Emmet. Think science fantasy storyteller Jules Verne – and now think New Germany-based grandparents Maurice and Jenny Strauss.

Steam Punk can be described as an artistic movement, a sub-genre of literary science fiction which originated during the 1880s that incorporates Victorian or scientific devices in wild, fanciful, industrial designs.

Steam Punk includes machines, clothing and even some social aspects of the time.

The term “Steam Punk” is derived from the adventurous technological aspects of the 19th century (the age of “steam”) and the rebellious aspect of the lone designer or mad scientist referred to as a “Punk”.

Some memorable movies that have included Steam Punk styled machines are Harry Potter, Mad Max, Chittty Chitty Bang Bang, and 20 000 Leagues Under The Sea.

For more information, contact strausslamps@gmail.com or call 079 551 7255