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Of course, the lamps have already been trashed, but that was in their previous life as mundane household appliances. Collecting things off the street gives DeGroff an advantage that he couldn’t find in an antique shop. Well, two. The first is obvious: everything is free.

In fact, the streets of New York are like hardware stores in a way. Broken TVs contain perfectly serviceable wires. Microwaves have bolts and screws and hinges.

“To spend money on that stuff would be a sin,” DeGroff says in a tone of voice that would suggest he’s been enlightened in some way. Maybe he has. Who views the skeletons of appliances as mini-toolboxes?

There is always the chance of getting electrocuted, DeGroff warns, or burned from faulty wires. There has been more than one occasion when something has gone up in flames.

The other advantage is that there is an endless stream of garbage being tossed out and nearly anything, according to DeGroff, can be found. For him, it’s the art nouveau pieces, the flowery, organic shapes of that era, that garner the most attention. And while he claims to look to no particular artist for inspiration, the ideas behind modernism – creating something new out of untraditional materials – guide his selection process. Influence or not, DeGroff works in the shadows of artists like Marcel Duchamp, the Dadaist whose 1917 work Fountain, a broken urinal he picked up on the way to an art show, gave birth to the idea of readymades, or found pieces of art. Fountain was selected in 2000 as the most important work of art in the 20th century by a poll conducted by art historians and collectors.

“You’ll notice all the lamps have a particular look,” he says. “I want them to have that industrial texture to look like a lot of time was spent going over every detail.”

The meticulous designs have worked. At DeGroff’s art store, word got around about the lamps and offers to use them in photographs began appearing. So far, he’s made a little over $1000 allowing people to set up in the living room and use the lamps for backdrop props. Nathaniel Katzman, a film director, recently contacted him to do a few scenes in the living room for his movie I Don’t Want to Kill Myself. DeGroff made $600 on the offer.

“Everyone always asks, ‘DO YOU SELL THEM?’” he says, emphasizing the question. The answer is No. Hotel Chelsea offered to buy one for their lobby, as have several art collectors, but DeGroff doesn’t want to part with something so personal, something he spends many months constructing. At least not now.

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