HANDMADE HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA #93 // Stockpile Designs Sheds Some Light On Vintage Military Equipment

And our preview of highlights from this Saturday's Handmade Holiday Craft Fair continues...

Stockpile Designs began with a bomb, but rather than triggering an explosion, it lit up a light bulb, both in the head of founder Jake Wright and in the lamp that he was inspired to create. "I saw a tail section of a bomb from the Korean War being sold as junk," Wright says. "Where it wasn't covered with rust it was encrusted with filth, but underneath the patina was this graceful form that reminded me of streamline deco lighting. It took a lot of sanding and polishing, but the finished piece was more striking than I had imagined."

Wright's idea wasn't born out the blue, though. It owes much to his unique upbringing. "As an air-force brat, I grew up with strange décor - exotic furniture from the places my parents were stationed, excellent mid-century design picked up for pennies on-base, and model planes, rockets, and military antiques littering bookshelves and hung on the wall," he says.

"Military design has a reputation for being industrial and spartan, but out of context it can be strikingly refined and minimal," Wright explains. "With Stockpile, I take military equipment out of its aggressive context, concealing the function while highlighting the form." On Saturday Wright will be selling a range of lighting décor, from repurposed cluster bomblets to the tail of a 100 lb bomb, as well as a pair of end tables made from WWII naval ammo.

Check out more Stockpile Designs pieces after the jump.

-- John Ruscher