About the Founder
Meet David Moss, The Illumignossi Project’s founder.
David is a physician and entrepreneur from Milwaukee, WI. David’s medical background is emergency medicine, but he is also trained in Integrative Medicine.
“My three post-college university experiences were transformative in different ways,” David says. “My medical school training at the University of Wisconsin Medical School introduced me to the mystery of the human body and the knowledge and skills of medicine. My MBA program at Northwestern University taught me how to combine my creative interests with strategic and organized thinking. My fellowship in Integrative Medicine with Andrew Weil, MD through the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine taught me the difference between curing and healing and opened me to the wider world of healing – both on an individual basis and collectively.”
And the lamp making – how did that come about? Twenty years ago, David’s sister took a weekend lamp making class in San Francisco, constructing a lamp out of paper, wood and a coat hanger. Excited by the end product, she immediately shared her new skill with David. David recounts – “I was instantly enchanted by the magical alchemy that transformed an ordinary piece of paper into an object of glowing beauty, merely by flipping a switch. Twenty years later, I still find working with illuminated paper to be pure magic! Over the years, my lamp making has evolved in two opposite directions. One is the zenlike pursuit of simplicity, especially with the healing lamps I have given away over the years. The other direction is increasingly complicated one-off creations, ranging from table and floor lamps to sconces to large illuminated sculptures. I especially love working with natural materials I come across in the forest or on beach walks, but I also love recycling discarded curbside materials.”
David soon began giving away his beautiful but simple, zen lamps to friends, family and acquaintances challenged by cancer and serious illness, combining his healing intentions with artistic creativity and always refining his approach. “As I got more and more feedback about the healing nature of these lamps, how they comforted the sick and inspired them, I began to teach the lamp making process to others. I learned that not only was the lamp making process a transformative experience, but it was soooo gratifying to give these lamps to those in need of light in their lives. These were gifts that kept on giving.”
And so, The Illumignossi Project was born. “I see life as a journey, and I hope we can provide some light for that journey through The Illumignossi Project. If we can be a positive inflection point in that journey, if we can provide some illumination, some comfort, some inspiration — our efforts will be worthwhile.”
“I’m driven by three C’s,” says David. “Creativity in all of its many aspects, Curiosity about this amazing world, and Compassion for my fellow travelers on this human journey we call life.”
Mary Lou Lamonda, Co-founder and Executive Director of the Illumignossi Project, has this to say about David. “David is multi-talented, multi-layered and knowledgeable about many different disciplines. He is an explorer and an artist. He not only creates art, he lives his life from a creative space. He doesn’t just talk about ideas and projects, he brings his heart, mind and passion to projects he decides need to be done. The Illumignossi Project is one of David’s long-term commitments that is exciting to see coming into its full light.”
In David’s spare time, his interests are constantly changing. He has been passionate about Irish music – playing the Irish whistle, the button accordion and singing with several Irish and bluegrass bands. And he has had a decades-long love affair with the outdoors, whether it’s backpacking, mountain biking, exploring claustrophobic desert canyons, or kayaking remote waterways. He has mountain biked with his four children from Canada to Mexico along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Trail and has kayaked solo across the Boundary Waters of Minnesota. When it’s time to slow down and be more contemplative, he loves spending time at his remote cabin in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan with his wife, Colleen.
