History
Steve Conant grew up making things.
His childhood toys were the tools in his dad's machinist workshop. While studying biology at the University of Vermont, Steve worked part-time making lighting, bar rails, and coat racks for a restaurant under construction. Other restaurant owners pursued him for similar work so, after graduation, he built a workshop in his single car garage and printed business cards that read, "Steve Conant Craftsman."
Demand for custom metalwork in Burlington, Vermont was low in 1979 but demand for restoration and repair services was high. So, after two years in the garage, Steve moved his shop to the corner of an industrial warehouse and renamed the business "Conant Custom Brass." The addition of brass restoration services was a good move and the service business took off.
As business increased, demand for his fabrication skills grew, fed his maker craving, and justified a larger shop. In 1982 he bought a small building with street frontage, added a retail showroom, and stocked it with anything he could make, repair, or re-finish. His retail offerings expanded to include new and vintage lighting, brass hardware, plumbing fixtures, faucets, fasteners. . . you name it.
Ten years of successful retailing provided the launch pad for realizing his dream of creating a manufacturing company. Steve developed an array of high-end lighting, weather instruments, clocks, and bird feeders, and targeted the mail-order industry. Conant Custom Brass soon became recognized nationally as the leading manufacturer of fine outdoor weather instruments.
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After fifteen years of manufacturing, the market began to change. Competitive pressure from China ramped up, the economy cooled off, and Conant decided to steer away from mass production. In 2008, Steve sold the Conant Custom Brass weather instrument division and re-named the company Conant Metal & Light, Inc. We began focusing on unique, short-run products and one-off works of art.
Today, Conant Metal & Light provides design, fabrication, restoration, and contract manufacturing services to a wide array of markets. Our retail store, sprawling workshops, and years of practical experience support a team of makers who are still passionately working wonders with metal and light. We create unique lighting and decorative metalwork that tells a story and solves a problem. We believe there is a bright future for makers in America, and many creative solutions yet to be fabricated.