St. James Vintage Lighting opens in Hockley Village

Written By CONSTANCE SCRAFIELD

A beautiful thing has happened to the historic St. James church in Hockley Village. It has become a vintage lighting shop. That means what it sounds like: the interior has been refurbished to a high quality and inside the old church is hung a wonder of antique lights, Art Deco, sconces, lights with faces, with stained and painted glass, ceramic and crystal chandeliers.

 Old lamps, made in Canada of brass, hand made and fabulous, stand on the counter.

 Overhead, a crystal chandelier, not big but endowed with hung crystal pieces, round and tear drop, to reflect prisms of light, to enhance any room. Every piece shines with having been polished to its best look.

Next to it, an antique ceramic chandelier. There are figures carved of flowers and a cherub holds a bough, cream coloured, it is painted with leaves and flowers, the light held in sconces, a beautiful work of art, cleaned and refurbished.

In the midst of it all is Vanessa Dragicevic, whose great joy in life is to rescue, repair and resell beautiful and interesting lighting. Sometimes, she makes new lights from old materials.

I'm making new Art Deco lights for the Hockley Community Hall,” she told the Citizen, “as a donation.”

Born in Slovenia, Ms. Dragicevic came to Canada with her parents in 1977.

“My parents decided to immigrate here,” she commented.

 Then, in 1994, she was married with three children and her husband, James, suggested, “Why don't we move to Orangeville?”

They loved the heritage look of the centre of the town and the comfortable feeling of the smaller community. More then that, they could see that there is a strong arts community in the town and the surrounding area.

So, they brought their family of two sons and a daughter to Orangeville, to Dufferin County, where they found themselves settled in a place that suited them very well.

Artistically, Ms. Dragicevic attended Sheridan College for photography, eventually teaching photography for the Catholic School Board from 1983 to 1997.

She explained, “That year, the Ontario government said I had to go back to school to get a teaching certificate, after all those years of teaching. I wasn't going to bother with that, so, I quit.”

Than, one day, “I went into a lighting shop where I couldn't afford the lights and I realized nobody north of Highway 9 is doing this. I bought Primrose Church in ‘97, the same year I resigned from school. I cashed in my pension to do it. My parents told me I was crazy to give up such a good pension.”

Ms. Dragicevic and St. James Vintage Lighting can be found on Facebook and Instagram – stjamesvintagelighting – her telephone number is 519-941-1800 or 519-939-2461.