With an eye for precision, form and quality, Theresa Lim, who goes by Terry, dresses up your favorite lamp base with styling that you absolutely cannot buy in any store. Terry’s self-taught lampshades creations lend vintage flair to a home essential in mood setting fabrics, and they become a functionally beautiful focal point shining in your daily lives.

A Tucson native born during a period of time when it was illegal for her Chinese father and Arizona-born mother of Mexican ethnicity to be married, Terry began her artistic journey by happenstance as far as lampshades go. As a child she worked alongside her siblings in the family store on Main Street, pricing goods, stocking sodas and slicing meats.

The family had living quarters in the back of the building. Their business was open 7 days a week for 12 hours, Terry recounts that it was difficult at times.

Shy as a child, Terry credits her mother with teaching her to sew and being supportive of her creative efforts. She remembers going into the desert to collect the dirt used for clay in her mom’s ceramics and pottery. Although she mentions the business was bulldozed, she does not elaborate that many long-time Tucson residents lament the politically suspicious destruction of culturally rich Barrio Viejo for ‘progress’ back in the 1960s, which saw the building a convention center and homogenization of the area for tourists.

Terry took up ballet and other dancing as a youth to strengthen her leg muscles and today still stays fit with Zumba classes so she has the energy to keep up with all her interest and activities. An early entrepreneurial spirit emerged during high school as she began to sell tie-dyed t-shirts, jewelry, candles and paper flowers she created to fund the attire and airfare she needed for a dance school scholarship back East. Turning a lifelong talent for handicraft into an artistic lifestyle is a dream for many people, one that has come true for Terry and she shares this gratitude with her entire circle of influence.

Open and pleasant, Terry is now a juried member of the Tucson Handweavers and Spinners Guild, joining in 2019, where she learned weaving with Melanie Abel and quickly found herself a valuable community. They feature her shades at their annual October show and sale, which, by the way, is an excellent opportunity for unique holiday shopping.

Crafting lampshades at Terry’s level is a rare art, indeed. She explains that, for her, the frame wiring was performed by another artisan before she lost contact with him. He used to cut and size specifications for her, but she collected a large enough inventory ready for fabrics and trims that will shine like jewels and captivate your imagination, bringing a cross-pollinated vibe to any space for decades to come. “It gives me much pleasure to work with gorgeous fabrics and materials. To experience how they evolve and develop brings me joy.” The only thing she no longer makes on her lampshades is beaded fringe. “Too time consuming,” she states.

“My shades are on free-standing wire frames,” Terry says. “Most frames today are made with plastic lining. The fabric dictates to me where it should go. I match it with a frame to best show off its beauty. Or sometimes an embellishment, like hand carved safari animal beaded fringe, might take me on a journey to find other components to mix with it.”

In the past, finding outlets and good partnerships for her art was challenging. “It has not always been an easy road. There have been times when I was limited in how many shades I could display (like 4), so I had to fight to get more into an event. Many years I didn’t sell a shade,” Terry shares. “A shop wanted to limit me from selling anywhere else. Didn’t sell there. Another shop wanted to double the price to the public and I wouldn’t do it. I’ve lost some ‘opportunities’ but salvaged my freedom and integrity. It has brought me to today, so I can’t complain. It all served a purpose.”

Some of her frame styles have names such as Babette, for her former mother-in-law who helped begin Terry’s lampshade journey by teaching her what she knew. Other names are Garden Frida, Phantom, Pancake and Radish. Each one is a custom creation discreetly signed on an inside seam, and all of her materials are guaranteed to last decades when cared for appropriately.

Explaining to ArtBeat that during the Victorian era, shade frames were elaborate and very colorful, Terry says that when she has removed the fabric from one of those shades, the fabric between seams that has not been exposed to light is actually quite bright. The other fabric exposed to light has faded to a pastel by comparison. Terry does not sketch her designs, nor does she mass produce a look for interior designers because repetition is not enjoyable to her.

Her level of skill ensures that her materials will not warp, fade, come unglued or otherwise age poorly. “I no longer want to recover plain white or cream-colored shades, where I make the trim from the same outer material. Frankly, that’s boring to me. I only have so much time left in my life, so I want it to be creative and fulfilling. I love color!”

Terry appreciates the help of her sister, Lucy, who helps with the shows. A friend in the lighting business hands out her cards to clients requiring special repairs or custom looks and he passes along enough business to augment what she sells at the craft show. She relates that these relationships are precious to her. “Good old fashion word of mouth is what I function on now,” Terry says.

She has been making lamp shades for almost 50 years and approaches life artistically, also volunteering her time for ArtWorks and creating shades for fundraisers benefiting local charities, such as the Tucson Museum of Art, all of which sell immediately. Busy enough besides frames and cloth choices of lampshades and the Guild, she still makes jewelry and sews, also growing her own green and brown colored cottons for weaving. Terry picks and choses her projects. She is humble in her talents and infuses all her transactions with a generous spirit.

All this and Terry still calls herself retired. “Now that I am retired, I have returned to that child who works on crafts all day,” she speaks of her life, adding that she is going to teach two grandnieces the art of making shades. We would say that Terry has it made in the shade!

Her array of fabrics will appeal to anyone. No two shades are exactly alike. If you desire sexy lighting for your boudoir or bright, kitschy fun for any room in the house, please feel free to email Terry at tlimtucson@gmail.com, make an appointment or visit her next October at the textile show, St. Francis in the Foothills.

“I don’t have a base price point. Price can be determined by the materials on the shade, such as vintage versus new fabric, silk versus cotton, hand dyeing, beadwork, etc. Maybe you have fabric you would like on the shade. Complexity of the wire frame is another factor. Some are more work intensive than others.”

Once a design and price are agreed upon, a down payment of 50% is required. Serious inquiries only, thank you. All photos courtesy of the artist.