Page 124 - Lighting Magazine January 2019

Iron MavEN
abovE: Despite the showroom name, these Contemporary lighting xtures in the front win- dow demonstrate there are plenty of interior styles inside besides exterior lanterns.
right: This lantern at the front of the show- room details the cra s- manship available from one of the showroom’s best-selling lines.
kept the existing line for the business and handed her abbergasted husband their new home number. “I would go to job sites and talk to the gas guys about how they do installation,” she comments. “For the two years that I sold lanterns out of the trunk of my car, I wasn’t known by any other name
than ‘Lantern Lady’ by the builders.”
As business grew, Clouse amassed a network of
independent cra smen in several states who could make lanterns for her. Next it was time to show the lines o properly to the public. She found a corner storefront measuring just 1,200 square feet, with large glass windows and located in a strip mall close to a Whole Foods Market. In addition to the well- heeled homeowners shopping for groceries, her glowing lanterns a racted the a ention of lighting rep Bre Blizzard.
“I would sell people lanterns and they’d want to buy other xtures from me for their homes. I was ge ing tired of sending business down the street,” says Clouse, who credits Blizzard with helping her expand her company. “Bre was the rst lighting rep who ever called on me,” she recalls.
tAking tHe PlUnge
In order to have a more comprehensive lighting showroom, Clouse knew she needed to buy more products — and that meant going to Dallas. “It was the June 2006 Dallas Market and I had never grov- eled or been turned on my heels so much in my life,” she a rms. Blizzard opened her with Quorum, but other premium lines weren’t willing to take a chance on a newcomer. “I’d tell them, ‘I’m not go- ing away.’ Either I’m going to be your best friend or your worst enemy. I’m relentless,” Clouse quips.
Slowly some of the big names she had been ar- dently pursuing agreed to let her carry their lines, and more followed. There was still one elusive designer-oriented line, however, that became her Holy Grail. Try as she might, Clouse was turned away every market. Finally in 2010, she was told she could have the line...if she placed a $50,000 opening order. Without ba ing an eye, Clouse re- sponded, “Ok, get your [order] pad.”
A er reviving her accountant who blanched at the expense, Clouse diligently went to work making her investment pay o . “I’m very ambitious and very driven,” she comments.
Almost immediately, her orders with that manu- facturer skyrocketed, just as she had predicted when asking for the line. “Carolina Lanterns was
122 enLIGHTenment MagazIne | January 2019
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