Our story
A craft that has not changed its method in over a century.
Most companies that made kerosene lamps shut their doors a hundred years ago. The Oil Lamp Company in Melbourne kept going — on the original tooling.
Our mission, in plain words
"We make lamps the way they were made when lamps mattered — by hand, on the same dies, with no pretense that we've improved on the originals."
The original Birmingham tooling used to press our Duplex burners is over a century old. The dies have not been recut. The borosilicate glass formula for our shades and chimneys has not been reformulated. The brass alloy has not been changed for cost.
These pieces have supplied collectors in Australia for over two decades. Now, for the first time, they are available in North America. The tooling stays exactly where it was. It always will.
Three things we believe
What we'll do for you, and what we won't.
Original tooling, not imitations.
Our Duplex burners are pressed on the original Birmingham tooling — over a hundred years old and still in production. The dies have never been recut.
Old world materials, period correct.
Shades, chimneys, and fonts are produced in borosilicate glass to the original period specification. No modern substitute materials.
Honesty over marketing.
Our invoices are plain paper. Our phone rings to a person. Our returns policy fits in one sentence: if it arrives less than whole, send it back, on us, for thirty days.
We were offered the original tooling and dies — over a hundred years old — and we said yes. We shipped them to Melbourne, set them up, and started making Duplex burners again. That's the whole story, really. The rest is just keeping the presses running.
More of the workshop