Lafayette entrepreneur sees success with custom lampshade business
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Six years ago, Ashlee Barclay was decorating her newly built home in Lafayette when she ran into a bit of a creative roadblock: she wasn’t able to find lampshades that gave a “pop” to the rooms.
“Most people don’t pay much attention to lampshades, but the ones I had, they were just blending into everything,” Barclay said. “I’m like, ‘There’s got to be a better way.'”
Everything she liked could only be found in the United Kingdom, and they either didn’t ship to the United States or it was too expensive to do so. So the stay-at-home mom took matters into her own hands by making the pleated-fabric lampshades she was looking for, a decision that proved lucrative.
Barclay said the effort became a form of art for her. She showed her work to friends and family, who encouraged her to transform her new hobby into a business.
“It was really at their suggestion that it could be something bigger,” she said. “I never saw myself as a business person. I don’t come from a business family or anything.”
She came upon Score Indianapolis, which provides business mentoring and connected with her mentor, Brandon Roger, whom she calls a “godsend.”
“He questioned me a lot just based on the things that I was telling him,” she said. “‘Ashley, is this a hobby, or are you ready to make it a business?’ So just kind of talking me through all of that stuff, and giving me the foundation…to make sure it was something I was really into. That’s how I decided we can do this if I just go slowly at my own pace, not trying to push it really fast or anything.”
In early 2024, Barclay launched Admiral Landings Designs, which offers exclusive and custom-designed lampshades; about 60% of her sales are custom orders, she said. She designs and makes all of the lampshades herself, and gets administrative help from her mother, Thomasica.
Roger connected Barclay with an interior designer, who took a liking to her products. Since then, she says her business has come primarily from referrals, though she got a big boost by being featured in the trade publication Designers Today in August.
“I went to the NY Now trade show; that was a big boost,” she said. “They found me there and immediately featured me in their trade resource magazine the very next month. So that was huge.”
Because the company is a small operation, Barclay said she wants to keep her clientele pretty exclusive, primarily consisting of interior designers. But she does have long-term designs for growth.
“I do want to get into designing my own fabrics to use for my lampshades. Right now, I have some fabric resources that I use that are very nice fabric resources. They range in prices from lower end to the higher end, just to cover my client base. But I would really like to design my own fabrics and be able to use those.”
Short-term, Barclay hopes to bring more awareness to the idea of custom lampshades, which she said has gone by the wayside, especially in the U.S.
She said the passion she has for her work is what’s keeping her going, particularly given her lack of a business background.
“All I can do is take it day by day, and in doing that, I’ve seen that it has proven to be the most beneficial. I don’t press anything or try to force any opportunities. Just kind of taking it day by day, word of mouth, people talking, that’s been what’s pushing me to keep going forward.”