---
title: "Handcrafted Motorcycle Lamps: The Best Thing on Etsy"
description: "Vintage design, modern illumination."
date: "2016-02-16"
modified: "2019-06-18"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/gear-up/2202/handcrafted-motorcycle-lamps-the-best-thing-on-etsy"
categories:
  - "Motorcycles"
  - "News"
  - "The Garage"
tags:
  - "motorcycle"
---

# Handcrafted Motorcycle Lamps: The Best Thing on Etsy

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/021616-scooter-lamps-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Heads up, gearhead interior decorators and motorcycle enthusiasts with dimly lit residences! Are you looking for a new way of illuminating living or working spaces that combines the elegance of a vintage Vespa with the candlepower of a Crate & Barrel? Well, have we found the lamp for *you*!

Ron Popeil spiel aside—these lamps are actually really damn cool. [Columbus, Ohio-based lampmaker The Modern Weld takes vintage scooter and motorcycle headlamp enclosures and lovingly transforms them into retro-modern works of art](<https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheModernWeld?ref=l2-shopheader-name>).While the exteriors of these reading lamps look old-fashioned, inside, the lights have been thoroughly gutted—rewired and outfitted with clean, crisp LED bulbs.

“It’s a restoration of a 60-year-old item, but it’s got the best of everything we can find,” The Modern Weld founder Matt Stewart told *The Drive*. After importing a Ukrainian headlamp for a personal motorcycle build, Stewart realized it would make a great floor lamp instead. When his friends saw it, they went nuts for it, and quickly began asking him to make more of them.

![021616-scooter-lamps-art.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/021616-scooter-lamps-art.jpg>)
**Etsy.com/TheModernWeld**

That was a little more than a year ago, he said. Today, in addition to his Etsy store, [Stewart has set up a website for the lamps](<https://www.themodernweld.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html>), and is offering them through a select [number of local](<https://www.cpmlaw.com/contact-us-3/>) retailers in the Columbus area.

“I’ve kind of been caught off-guard,” he said. “I spend more time scraping rust and polishing chrome than I ever thought.”

Right now, The Modern Weld has a selection of table, desk and floor lamps available on itsr Etsy page. Currently, the floor lights are [1960s-era Ural units harvested from Ukraine](<https://www.etsy.com/listing/235356338/handcrafted-custom-floor-lamp>), while the table lamps come from [Japanese motorcycles headlamp enclosures from the ’60s](<https://www.etsy.com/listing/265284726/vintage-motorcycle-headlight-table-lamp?ref=related-2>) and [the desk one is a 1970s-era scooter fixture](<https://www.etsy.com/listing/259474883/custom-vintage-scooter-desk-lamp>). (Stewart also takes custom orders, so if you’ve been trying to figure out to do with your old Harley-Davidson that’s rusted itself into a single piece, pry off the headlight and send it his way.)

That said, if you’re still in the buy-everything-at-IKEA phase of your life and thus not quite ready to drop several hundred dollars on handmade lighting fixtures, you can still follow The Modern Weld on Instagram[to scope out its selection of current and upcoming motor vehicle-inspired lighting fixtures, as well as see many of its custom projects](<https://www.instagram.com/themodernweld/>).

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)