Paul G. Jurkschat, age 54, a resident of Chicago, IL, died Friday, January 19, 2018, at home. He was born February 8, 1963 in Chicago, IL.

Paul was a devoted father, loving son, dearest brother and a true friend. He was thoughtful and giving, a creative soul, a passionate cook and mystery enthusiast. He was a talented artist who devoted many years to the field of design. Paul was much loved and will be missed by everyone his life has touched.

He is survived by his son, Max; his former spouse, Allyson; his mother, Anni Erslovas-Jurkschat; his sister, Ruth (Gary) Hannenberg; his brother, Ron (Joan); nieces, Audrey and Haley Hannenberg, and Beatrix and Eloise Treister; nephew, Sol Treister; and his former in-laws.

A visitation will be held on Friday, January 26, 2018 from 3:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., in Wheaton, IL, where a funeral service will be held on Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be private.

A recent Chicago Tribune obituary can be read by clicking here .

Another wonderful article about Paul and his work is included below:

From Chandeliers To Sconces, Designer Is Lighting The Way

April 20, 2001|By Leslie Mann. Special to the Tribune.

"This isn't something you learn in school," says Paul Jurkschat of the trade he joined in 1994. He is one of three lighting designers at New Metal Crafts Inc. in Chicago. "Each of us learned on the job as an apprentice." But Jurkschat did bring the right mix of talents to the job. He had studied architecture and interior design at the University of Illinois at Chicago and had worked as a designer of custom furniture and cabinetry.

Now, Jurkschat says he has found his calling, designing and restoring lighting fixtures for homes and businesses.

New Metal Crafts was founded by the late Armin Neumann in 1932. Armin's son, Jim, owns it now and oversees its 40 employees. Jurkschat works at the company's 1308 N. Elston Ave. factory. It also has a showroom at 812 N. Wells St.

Jurkschat says his projects "run the gamut from a 14-foot chandelier for a theater to a small dining-room sconce for an old home." Some of his grander designs can be found at Chicago's Orchestra Hall, Oriental Theater, Chicago Theater and the Field Museum.

"The most elaborate ones I've designed are in the Severance Hall in Cleveland," says Jurkschat. "We did hundreds of Art Deco fixtures to match some originals that were left. The new ones had to blend in with the old."

Half of Jurkschat's work is for businesses, half for homeowners. The latter includes an assortment of fixtures from "walk-ins."

"People stop by with old fixtures and ask if they are worth restoring," he says. "We tell them what it would cost. Sometimes it costs more to fix the old one than to buy a new one, but people are willing to do it when the fixture is unusual or has sentimental value."

Some customers chuck their old fixtures and buy antiques from New Metal Crafts' collection of thousands. Many are from Neumann's frequent European trips.

Other homeowners ask Jurkschat to build fixtures from scratch. "Usually, they bring in a photo of the type they want," he explains. "Then I give them a rough sketch and cost estimate. If they want to go ahead with it, I make a full-scale drawing, which the workers here use as a guide to build the fixture. We archive the drawings because customers often come back and want duplicates made or need to replace missing pieces."

Jurkschat's custom pieces range in price from $500 to $15,000. "We're expensive," he admits. "But we offer service and materials that people can't get elsewhere. So people come from all over the world. This week, one man came in from Anchorage, Alaska."

Jurkschat juggles several designs at a time, going back and forth all day from his desk to the assembly/repair areas. His tools are the same as those used by his predecessors 100 years ago. "Basically, it's pencil and paper," he says. "I have a computer for billing, ordering materials and communicating with customers, but the designs still have to be drawn by hand because each one is different."

"My motto is `grin and bear it,' because there's always going to be a crisis," says the even-keeled Jurkschat. "You just have to handle each problem and deadline and move on."

The most popular fixture style among Jurkschat's customers these days is Arts and Crafts, often with the use of natural materials. "I also see a trend toward bigger," he reports. "People build huge great rooms, then realize they need huge fixtures, too."

One thing that hasn't changed, says Jurkschat, is that lighting is often an afterthought, especially in remodeling. "People tend to set aside the fixtures and forget about them," he says. "Then the walls are up and the fixtures aren't ready."

At his home in Wicker Park, Jurkschat has antique fixtures he found at flea markets and restored. He and his wife, Allyson, a buyer for a women's store, spend their free time trekking to the Kane County Flea Market in St. Charles, several favorite markets in Wisconsin, and one that's held weekly in New York City. Like his customers, Jurkschat prefers fixtures with character to those mass-produced.

For more information, contact New Metal Crafts Inc., 312-787-6991, or inquiries@newmetalcrafts.com .

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