John Beck is moved by metal. The Collinsville, Illinois–based lighting designer began working with the material in his teens and hasn’t looked back. “For me, steel is fascinating,” he tells Business of Home. “When someone recently asked me how long I thought I had left in this business, I said, ‘forever.’ It’s all I do, and it’s all I want to do.”
Growing up in the Midwest—just outside of St. Louis, where he still lives and works today—Beck fell in love with metalwork while taking industrial arts classes as a high school student, eventually landing a gig at a welding supply company after graduation. “One day, I came across a Room & Board catalog and saw a steel tube headboard that I absolutely loved but couldn’t afford,” he says. “My job gave me access to machines and materials, so I made it myself.”
Beck spent the next few years honing his skills, handcrafting one-off pieces in his free time. In the early aughts, he opened a furniture store with his sister-in-law and started selling his metal-based works before debuting his first collection at ICFF in 2005. “My first collection was actually steel tube furniture—coffee tables, desks, bed frames, and even fireplace surrounds, all made from carbon steel.”
As he continued to fine-tune his fabrication process, Beck found himself focusing solely on lighting designs. “I find light bulbs incredibly inspiring,” he explains. “Their design is elegant, and in much of my work, the bulb is the centerpiece.”
Materials play the starring role in Beck’s portfolio, which features an array of industrial-style steel pieces with eye-catching finishes. “Our production process centers around steel—it’s the backbone of everything we create,” he says. “We primarily use cold-rolled steel, which has a silver finish, and hot-rolled steel, which features a black mill-scale patina.”
His latest collection, Little Lamps, offers an assortment of ambient lighting such as Little Block, a geometric gem available in hues ranging from School Bus Yellow and bright fuchsia Pink, and Charles, a pill-shaped cutie with a lampshade forged from a single sheet of metal. “I see endless possibilities with powder-coated finishes,” he says. “They allow me to introduce bold colors and unique textures into a design.”
Beck also works directly with architects and interior designers on bespoke lighting designs for residential and commercial projects, including the executive dining room at the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and the Lexus Dugout Lounge at Oracle Park (home of the San Francisco Giants). “I’m not just thinking about the designer’s vision, but also the electrician who will be installing it,” he says. “If the electrician runs into trouble, it can create a ripple effect, so I focus on simplifying the installation to ensure that everyone—from the designer to the client—is happy with the result.”
Currently hard at work developing fresh finishes for his bestselling Hex line, Beck—whose designs are available through Lumens, Lightology and 2Modern—hopes to expand into more retail spaces in the new year. “I’d also love the opportunity to collaborate with a large lighting manufacturer,” he says. “Partnering with a brand that can market and promote my designs to a much larger audience would be a dream.”
If you want to learn more about John Beck, visit his website or Instagram.
