Fraser Valley – 76 year old Bernie Kilroe is a father of 4 (You may know one his daughters…looks like Cher) and grandfather of 7 and has always the talent and imagination for fixing, building and creating.
Over the years he has turned old Singer sewing machines into tables and wine racks, and converted vintage tail gates into benches that light up. For a few years he dove into upholstery, giving old treasured rocking chairs and other vintage furniture a brand new life. When that began to take up too much space and physical effort, he retired his upholstery passion and wasn’t sure where the next inspiration arise.
His call was answered when he saw a picture of a phone converted into a lamp on the internet and thought to himself…I can do that with much improvement…since the lamp he saw had only one light in the hand receiver that was sticking out.
A week later he built a prototype with 3 different lights (one in each end of the hand receiver and LED lights along the bottom of the base) as well a built-in USB charger which now rendered the conversion as artistically and aesthetically pleasing but also functionally useful.
Bernie’s Phone Lamps began!
That started what has become his full-time passion (and “side hustle”–isn’t that what the kids are calling it these days?) for the past couple of months. Bernie has spent his time finding and converting every type of old retro phone you can think of. He has made about 15 phones and not one has been exactly like the other, so each project is a separate artistic and engineering challenge, whose completion brings sweet satisfaction which fuels his enthusiasm for the next one.
So far he has sold phones to buyers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Kelowna, downtown Vancouver, West Vancouver and White Rock. He has worked with basic plastic phones, older heavier bakelites, and fancy French brass phones.
So there is a Christmas gift idea.. or two here…
He has even had a couple of commissions with customers’ personal treasured phones that had once belonged to their late relatives–grandmother, father.
The spare bedroom of his basement suite has become his growing workshop, filled with tools and parts such as goosenecks, flashlights, USB housing, wires, and soldering sets.
A couple of models are displayed and for sale at The Liquorice Parlour on Commercial Drive and Granville Island in Vancouver.
Each phone takes about 12-16 hours to make and sells for between $300-$400 depending on the model/type of phone.
If you are interested in one of Bernie’s Retro Phone Lamps or want to see more, go to his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61553403053556 or contact him by email here bvkilroe650@gmail.com
NOTE – One of Bernie’s daughters is Bonnie Kilroe, a celebrity showcase performer who does everyone from Patsy Cline to Cher !
