This week’s Spotlight is on Erik Lindstrum, the co-owner of Golden Daffodil with his sister Kierston. Erik grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut. He went to a small boarding school on the top of a mountain in Northern New Hampshire. Upon graduating from high school, his sister’s college roommate suggested he start his college search here in South Carolina because he wanted a place where it didn’t snow, after being on the top of a mountain in New Hampshire. He also wanted a small place because there were 18 students in his graduating class. He chose the College of Charleston majoring in Museum Studies.
Lindstrom became the education coordinator at the Beaufort Museum and then the interim director and city department head for the museum. At that time, the City of Beaufort controlled the museum, so they were a department of the city. He has also worked in development, Lowcountry Aid Services in North Charleston, and for AAA rentals as an event coordinator.
Eventually he came here to Walterboro and started his own company doing upholstery.
Lindstrom explains, “In college, I had a friend who lived here who grew up in Walterboro. When I was at college, we would come down to Walterboro to visit her sister and her parents and so I knew about Walterboro. When my parents decided to retire 16 years ago my parents decided they wanted a place in South Carolina on the river. I found this really great little place down at the end of Bonnie Doon Road that they bought it sight unseen. They teased me terribly about it. They’re like we can’t believe we’re buying property sight unseen in a swamp in South Carolina. But they loved it there. They’ve since moved into Walterboro. When they moved here that’s when I decided to open my business.” His first shop was out of their dock house on that little piece of property by Bonnie Doon, a little tiny 8 foot by 12-foot building and that’s where he did his upholstery work.
Erik explains his move from museums to upholstery, “I like working with my hands. I get a great deal of satisfaction from having something physical accomplished at the end of the day.” The Golden Daffodil is more than upholstery shop. They build furniture from scratch, “We have wood shop next door, if you can imagine it or bring us a picture of it, we can build it. We do custom upholstered furniture and everything we build is kind of old school. We do eight-way hand tied springs on hardwood frame with mortise tenon and doweled together, dovetail, we use down cushion inserts and what they call feather wrap. So very old school techniques, but the piece of furniture you get from us will last you a lifetime. It will be an heirloom.
The business has been expanding Lindstrom continues, “We most recently have been doing a lot of aviation work. Custom interiors for jets and turbo prop aircraft. We’re actually also opening our second location in Denmark, not Denmark, South Carolina. The country of Denmark.”
Denmark has family ties, Erik explains, “So the place where we’re opening our business is going to be on the island, where my great grandfather my mother’s father was born. We know of at least 14 generations before him that were born and lived on this little island. It’s literally three kilometers by three kilometers. It’s up in the northern part of the island of Denmark and accessible only by ferry. Our shop is going to be a stone’s throw from the house that my great grandfather was born.”
When not working Lindstrom likes to sing and has a love for Barbershop Music, “I am a member of the local chapter which is the Beaufort Harbormaster and I’ve also served on the district board which is in North Carolina, South Carolina, and some very small parts of Georgia.
I’ve been singing with a quartet for 10 years and I just started with a new quartet this year named Rare and Well Done. We are named after Luther’s Rare and Well done in Beaufort because they’re our sponsor.”
Singing is not new to Lindstrom, “I’ve been singing my whole life. You know when we were little kids singing around the campfire when we were on vacation and then when I was little my grandfather had a player piano and they lived a couple blocks from us. Two or three times a week we would go over to their house for dinner and that’s what we did, we sat down at the piano, and we sang along to the old piano rolls and so I found barbershop just about 12 years ago and I immediately fell in love. It was music that I remember singing from those player pianos and the organization is so welcoming. They are the nicest group of people.”
The Beaufort Harbormasters are having their spring concert at Bethel United Methodist Church on Hampton Street here in Walterboro on May 5th at 3pm. The concert is a mix of fun music, music that’s uplifting, fun and family oriented, from doowop to sacred music. The title of our concert is Joy and Song.” The concert is part of the WHAM! Festival and there is no charge for tickets. They do suggest the donation of $10 per person but if you can’t make a donation, they will not turn you away. The Harbormaster’s is a 501c3 and specifically chartered by the state of South Carolina to support the Alzheimer’s Association and do outreach for people who have Alzheimers.
The concert is the 2nd of two concerts with the first being Saturday, May 4 at 7pm at St. John’s Church on Lady’s Island.
The Harbormasters encourage anyone who is interested to come to the concert or a rehearsal. Erik says, “We have so many members who don’t read music or have been told, I can’t sing. We always say, if you have a desire to learn how to sing, we can teach you how to sing. And you don’t have to have an amazing voice with barbershop. It’s really about a mix. So it’s really easy especially to sing in the chorus when you’re standing next to people singing that same part. More than anything, it’s about having fun with barbershop and that’s what we always do.”
If you are on Washington Street, stop by the Golden Daffodil or on Lady’s Island check out a barbershop rehearsal at St. John’s Lutheran Church on Lady’s Island in Beaufort every Sunday from September through the end of May at 2pm. Erik will be the one with the signature handlebar moustache.
