If one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, then Kenyan Lewis has made a living from the latter. As a prop master in Warwick, New York, finding vintage typewriters, worn photographs, and antique tools for clients is all in a day’s work.
Prop masters like Lewis help market or brand a product or concept by discriminately selecting and delicately positioning items throughout a venue or at a photo shoot to create the specific atmosphere that their clients want to convey. Many fashion designers or retailers hire prop masters on a freelance basis, but they can also work full time for the company. While prop masters can work with all genres and aesthetics, Lewis and his crew of three employees, sell, rent, and refurbish antiques for large and small businesses and private collectors.
For example, when Andre Benjamin (formerly Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast) launched, Benjamin Bixby, his line of menswear in 2007, he hired Lewis’s business, ByKenyan Props, to create a 1930s football theme at boutiques set up for the clothing line in Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, Harrods, and Liberty in London. Lewis’ montages came complete with old scoreboards, wool jerseys, and leather helmets. He even tracked down hot air balloon baskets to match with Benjamin Bixby’s logo. Lewis sourced items that ran with an old 1910 German fighter pilot theme for Benjamin Bixby’s Red Baron theme the next season.
In the 12 years since the 38-year-old prop master started his own business, he has collected nearly 5,000 antiques. Even though he stays away from providing props for movies, celebrities often seek his help to decorate their homes in an early Americana aesthetic. Because of the recession, Lewis predicts that his revenue will be $80,000 in 2009, which is below average, but in a good year he normally makes $200,000. Last year he brought in $120,000 just from one designer who was launching a new brand.
BlackEnterprise.com talked with Lewis about his passion for props, the path that led him into the business, and his pointers for people who want to pursue his craft.
BlackEnteprise.com: What is a day in your life like?
Kenyan Lewis: It starts out with someone looking for something– a vintage ladder or bench, or old signage. My day consists of searching on the Internet, driving around town, calling sources, and at times reproducing items myself, which is a great joy because I am taking something new and giving it an old-world charm.
I travel at least three to four times a week. Sometimes I fly, but I have a huge old 1968
van, like an ice cream truck [that] I’ll take that to Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Florida, depending on where the antique markets are. I’m constantly looking for estate sales in newspapers and on the Web.When [I] buy a piece [at an antique show,] I charge [my] client at least five to eight times what [I] paid for it, if it is a good deal. There are definitely industry standards on some of the pieces, so you can’t get too crazy. There are no written rules. I research, get things appraised, and go to shows. How much I charge varies from piece to piece and the condition of the piece. A lot of [demand is based on] trends. Things are hot one moment and not the next.
I try not to sell a lot of my stuff. It is better for me to rent because I continually make money off of [the same] pieces. I charge a day rate, and per piece. I set rental rates at 35%-45% of the price of the item for seven days. I also charge from $1,500 to $3,500 per hour to [consult with my clients about the image that the company wants to instill in customers].
How did you break into the prop design business?
I was a merchandiser at Bloomingdale’s. I assisted with windows, dressed mannequins, set up [boutiques] and did stuff around the store. It was $25,000 a year job. It’s not a lot of money. You have to make a name for yourself [to start your own prop business]. I freelanced at other places and used my experience with Bloomingdale’s, [which got respect from smaller stores]. I decorated parties, friends’ boutiques, worked with party promoters. A lot of merchandisers freelance as set designers on photo shoots. You have to be out there hitting the pavement.
What training do you need to be a prop master or set designer?
There really is no school you can go to learn set design, prop design, or prop buying. Take art, visual and interior design, and art history classes. Art history classes teach you about the history of certain styles so you know the era. You have to bring all of those [skills] together. These things are homegrown. I did visual arts in college and I did stuff on my own and [sought] people that were creative.
Painting or drawing classes come in handy when you are restoring a piece. Seventy-five percent of my business is doing signage right now. I just painted seven foot letters on the Ralph Lauren Polo Store on 72nd and Madison Avenue. Signage was definitely something to fall back on when the economy tanked. It is doing really well right now.
What skills translate well into your career?
Anyone who is very organized and has an eye for design will do well. Every time I walk in a place I am touching and feeling things, looking under tables, and looking at labels to see if it is real.
In this industry, is it better to work for yourself or a department store?
Both cases are good. You have the security if you are working for someone else, but it is a disadvantage when layoffs occur. Companies usually bring me on board as a consultant and have their team work around my ideas. I think it is best to be on the sidelines and come in and be the boss. Then you have the freedom to do whatever you want, and you can implement your style to them. You have more of a voice because they are looking for your style, so you have control. If you do a good job, they will end up calling you back and you could have a lifetime client. If you are working for that company you are under their control.
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