If you’ve visited a notable historic property in Newport, such as the Elms and Chateau-sur-Mer mansions or Trinity Church, chances are you’re familiar with the work of Renaissance Antique Lighting.
While the name may not immediately ring a bell to an everyday visitor, behind the scenes, Jon DeAngelo, owner of the vintage and antique lighting restoration company, has “participated in the rewiring of most of the fixtures in the preservation society’s housing,” he said of the Preservation Society of Newport County.
It’s not just limited to the Newport area, either. In Providence, DeAngelo has restored lighting for the Rhode Island School of Design Museum’s “porcelain room,” and Brown University’s John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, among standout projects.
Throughout his 35 years in business through Renaissance, DeAngelo has done most of his work in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts, but he has also attracted national and international customers, including BBC Studios, Home & Garden Television, DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Studios, where he’s worked on lighting for TV and movie sets.
DeAngelo worked in the restaurant industry for 20 years before making the shift to restoration, with a focus on refinishing wood and metal. He started out refinishing furniture for antique dealers as a side job in the early 1980s, then later began buying and refinishing furniture independently.
Eventually, DeAngelo settled on using his vocational knowledge to focus on lighting restoration, which could involve services ranging from rewiring lamps and LED conversion and design to crystal chandelier cleaning. By 1988, he had officially launched as Renaissance Antique Lighting, selling his work out of a Spring Street storefront in Newport.
DeAngelo sold the Newport storefront in 2013 and mulled retirement. But a continuing demand for restoration services, as well as his own enjoyment of the profession, have kept him in business for another decade.
“I just like taking things and making them new again, or restoring them,” DeAngelo said. “There is a knack for being able to finish significant antique stuff correctly without ruining it, and there are only a handful of guys left that know how to do that.”
DeAngelo now works on a smaller scale, mostly running the business himself while sometimes enlisting contractors for larger projects.
The business, which has a storefront in Fall River and an office location in Tiverton, mostly works with commercial customers, DeAngelo says, such as museums. But about a quarter of the work comes from smaller-scale projects, such as home restorations or rewiring an individual’s antique lamp.
While demand has ebbed in years past, it’s been picking up increasingly since 2010, DeAngelo said, which he attributes partially to a boom in restoring old buildings. As an Underwriters Laboratories certified shop, Renaissance Lighting is also sometimes enlisted in certifying fixtures from Europe for fire and electrical safety standards.
OWNER: Jon DeAngelo
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Vintage and antique lighting restoration
LOCATION: 104 Anawan St., Fall River
EMPLOYEES: Five (contractors)
YEAR FOUNDED: 1988
ANNUAL REVENUE: Approximately $150,000
