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| About Me |
| Hi, I'm Jake Ruth from Mohnton, PA, (which is right outside of Reading) the Hometown of the world famous Berks Jazz Festival held every year in March. A few years back, my wife Donna and I started our business just in time to display our functional art at the Berks Jazz Fest. John Ernesto, our dear friend, and head of the Berks Jazz Festival, had a College Graduation party for his daughter Kate that year and this is how the story goes... With his involvement in the Jazz Festival and his love of Jazz, he has a music room with a saxophone lamp that a friend had made for him. In school, I played the trumpet and, being a machinist and business owner, I was intrigued by the lamp he had. I always had very good grades in Art and, until now, never had the use for the unused talent. John and I talked about the lamp and he said that if somebody made a unique, artsy, cool design in a lamp, that he could get them in as a vendor at Berks for the Jazz Festival. John didn't imply that I should do it... Well-- I tossed and turned all night thinking of how I could make these lamps by using all the skills that I had obtained throughout the years in the manufacturing business. I called my wife to discuss it the next morning and she agreed to pass the idea around to a few hundred people to see what their thoughts were about it. The response was amazing and very positive to start the business. I started calling music stores to get some good-looking instruments to make my prototypes. I made the first three lamps and called John for his thoughts. He came over for a look at the lamps that night and said that they were very cool and that we should start making more of them. Donna and I started and got the necessary things for the new business and in no time I went to work "lamping". The result was 24 lamps that I made to display at Berks Jazz Fest. last year. Half of them sold and I received the best compliments from the thousands of people and musicians that met us. We travel to as many Jazz Fests. as we can now and are having the best time meeting the nicest people in the country! We meet the greatest musicians who go out of their ways to talk to, and compliment, 'the Lampman' and Donna about our lamps. Watch for us at a show near you! *Thank you to all the fans that are making us feel so welcome in the 'Jazz Crowd'.* WE LOVE YOU ALL!! |
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