Kalco Lighting and Furniture Company By Art Nadler There are only a couple companies remaining in the United States today that make steel furniture and light fixtures the old-fashioned way -- by hand-forging them out of solid iron stock. Kalco Lighting, Furniture and Accessories, 6355 S. Windy St. #3 in Las Vegas, NV, has been keeping the tradition alive for nearly 20 years. The company, which was launched in 1981 in a 20,000 square-foot building in Chatsworth, Calif., quickly skyrocketed from $70,000 in annual sales to a multi-million corporation today. Kalco's handcrafted products are currently sold throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia.

Kalco is located west of Sunset Road off the Las Vegas Strip, where it moved in 1991 into a 45,000 square-foot warehouse. In 1999, the company expanded its present site location to 84,000 square feet. "We have 600 products," says, Ron Henderson, director of marketing. "But even though we have these products, a customer can put together combinations (of designs) and the possibilities can run into the thousands." The company's Wellington series, for example, is reminiscent of provincial British castles. Iron chandeliers graciously bend and curve into elongated works of art. Elegant fine crystal accents the base, adding an old-world touch to a modern design. With the Vine series, metal rods wrap themselves into vine-like appendages that hold alabaster glass shades to form wall sconces and chandeliers. Slender silver and gold iron rods shaped into straight lines and sleek shapes make up Kalco's Art Deco series, which was popular during the 1920s and 1930s. In all, Kalco markets 10 family product lines. Henderson says the company started out with five employees who installed glass-shaded lights into ceiling fans. Then during a lighting convention in 1993, the company exhibited several lights in a row as a display on a metal bar. To company executives' surprise, several delegates at the convention thought the display was a bathroom fixture and wanted to purchase it. That's when Kalco hit on the idea of creating the bars to go above bathroom mirrors. "The bath bar started selling through the roof, and we couldn't keep up," Henderson says. "From lighting bars, we went into making chandeliers." Then in the 1990s, Henderson says a trend in crafting furniture from iron developed. Kalco opened a factory in the Philippines in 1995 and employed 106 craftsmen to fabricate iron into steel-framed furniture highlighted with intricate grape leaves, ropes and tassels. In Las Vegas, 125 employees do the painting, which takes seven to nine coats, and the wiring of the light fixtures. There are also 40 corporate office personnel in Las Vegas. "All the work is done by extensive hand labor," Henderson says. "A bar stool takes about 40 hours to make. A kitchen light made out of steel requires 10 to 15 hours to produce." "We put everything together according to your order, and we do it in two to three weeks. In this industry, customers are used to waiting six months to get their items." Kalco currently has 1,200 accounts throughout the United States and has products sold in 2,100 showrooms. On Jan. 7, 2000, Simkar of Philadelphia, a 50-year-old firm that specializes in fluorescent light fixtures, acquired the company. Harry Kallick, president of Kalco, said his company will remain headquartered in Las Vegas and is looking forward to expanding distribution on the East Coast. "This will have a positive effect on both companies," Kallick says. "Simkar is the fourth largest lighting company in the United States. They have 300,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space and employ 500 people. We will continue to grow both companies." Kalco lights and furniture are currently available through the following locations: Statewide Lighting Center, 800 E. Sahara Ave., Las Vegas, and in Reno at 1113 S. Virginia St.; and in Las Vegas at Northern Lights, 8410 W. Cheyenne Ave.; Win Supply Co., 3910 Graphics Center Drive; Ingram Lighting D=E9cor, 2441 Western Ave. and Light Specialists Inc., 4810 W. University Ave. For more information, Kalco can be reached at: 1-800-525-2655.