The mantra of the LeBron James Family Foundation is “We are Family.”
So, it was only fitting that it turned to an Akron artist to create the lighting theme inside of the new Buckets Restaurant, which opened in April inside of House Three Thirty in Akron.
And for Glenn Miller, the massive project that took months to complete was a bit of a full-circle moment for his own family.
Turns out it was his grandfather Glenn Miller Sr. who assembled and installed the giant chandeliers in the building’s ballroom back when it was the Tangier.
Jon Erisey, who was instrumental in the design process of Buckets and manages projects at House Three Thirty, said they knew they wanted something unique for the lighting design inside of the new restaurant, which, like everything else inside of House Three Thirty, offers job training for Akron school kids and their families.
When they settled on the buckets theme with a subtle nod to the many baskets that “Just a Kid from Akron” has made in the NBA and the restaurant’s signature buckets of chicken, Erisey said, they turned to the artistry of Miller — who can turn just about anything into a light fixture — to pull it all together.
Glenn said he spent months putting together the lighting scheme, which includes 109 liquor bottles made into lights that hang from the ceiling by the restaurant’s bar area.
One of the bottles is a signature LeBron James cognac bottle from his collaboration with Hennessy.
And in the restaurant’s main dining area, the light fixtures are made from old sap buckets collected in Ohio’s Amish country.
Just inside of the restaurant’s entrance is a large light fixture made of bicycle wheels to mark the foundation’s start of giving Akron school kids bikes before it embarked on a more ambitious journey to keep city school students in class and on the path to a college diploma.
“Glenn’s just so creative,” Erisey said. “We just knew it would fit the restaurant’s vibe.”
And the industrial look and the use of the reclaimed items, he said, makes it feel like the lights have been there forever.
“The goal is to make guests comfortable,” Erisey said.
Whiskertin Craft Light Studio takes on jobs big and small
This is not the first time a restaurant has used Glenn’s Whiskertin Crafted Light Studio.
One of the first to use his handiwork was the Great Lakes Brewing Co. in Cleveland shortly after he and his then partner Aaron Novak started making lights as a side gig.
All the creative side of putting the ideas onto paper and then crafting the light fixtures happens a few miles from the House Three Thirty in Glenn’s studio. The workspace is tucked on the second floor of the old Saalfield Publishing Company on Getz Street in Akron, where children’s books were once printed starting in the early 1900s.
The studio, which is open on Saturdays, is full of Glenn’s handiwork and that of other Akron artists that he collaborates with.
Glenn said he does a few shows in and around Greater Cleveland and the Ohio Mart at Stan Hywet Hall, but usually the work finds him.
Like a pair of customers who asked him to create lamps out of prosthetic legs as a memorial for loved ones.
“I didn’t charge an arm or a leg,” he said. “I try to keep my prices pretty reasonable.”
No job is too big either.
‘Anything can be made into a light’
Glenn said he was once commissioned to create a giant airplane-shaped light fixture that now hangs inside of a private hangar.
And there were the giant lighted fireflies he created for another client.
A lot of customers want table lamps made out of bottles that have sentimental value.
Those commissions, he said, typically run under a hundred bucks.
The bright studio is full of lights of all different shapes and sizes.
A light made out of roller skates fetches around $200.
He also makes lights out of custom skateboards with designs ranging from “Fraggle Rock” to the signature energy domes made famous by some other Akron artists by the name of Devo.
The skateboard lights run around $200.
Glenn said he loves the challenge of creating light from unusual objects.
“It’s important to use found objects and locally source with other artists like the Akron Glass Works,” he said. “I like to bring talent together.
“We all have different strengths.”
And he’s always on the lookout for something cool that can be made into a light fixture − whether that’s an item on the curb on trash day or scouring Greater Akron vintage stores like the Bomb Shelter.
“Anything can be made into a light as long as I can put a hole in it and put a light bulb into it.”
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Akron artist flips switch to make lights for LeBron James’ Buckets
Reporting by Craig Webb, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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