Just thinking on the idea being a blacksmith or die trying thought. I never got into this trade to actually make a living at it. I was simply fascinated with the process of fire, hammer and anvil. I spent years making a huge scrap pile; looking at photos of other smith’s work and trying to match or exceed it and mostly failing, BUT, learning all the time. I spend a lot of time at the anvil; a LOT of time. Met some great folks along the way; fellow travelers if you will. Each of the ones I got to know had their own strengths and passions, certain areas that really inspired them. One friend does the most amazing animal heads; another got the sculpture bug on a monumental scale. Another is into very fine polished and engineered pieces.
What ended up getting me was line and texture; curve and depth. With texture, I love the affect texture has on a room. If it’s a contemporary situation, texture can really be set off from an overall “clean” look. A visual dynamic look rather than a uniform clean and spare look. One of the design trends in recent years has been the use of steel like plywood. Just put up these blackened panels on walls or over fireplaces and enhance the contemporary look of the home. But with introduction of a little process; ie fire and hammer, the visual depth of steel not only changes, but it can change a room; like the beautiful hand troweled adobe walls in New Mexico or Italy with stone and mortar walls. It’s the process that makes the beauty. A finely forged front door handle, some forged mesh placed inside a clean contemporary frame, or a railing inspired by the beauty of our coast, all these add to our life expression both as a creator of work or a client who commissions the piece. I sometime look at these clean contemporary homes and wonder at the lack of personality. In one sense they can be seen as setting for some great art. There is no visual competition as the home is just kind of eye wash and in that sense, the home is an exciting palette. Some designers really know how to take advantage of the opportunity. They hire us artisans to compliment the structure. Then our job is to enhance the home, putting the house jewelry on if you will. I really enjoy the interaction between client, architect, designer and artisan if everyone is willing to participate in a design dialog.
Last winter I had chance to do some restaurant interior work with Catherine and Justine Macfee of Macfee Design in Lafayette, CA. I’ve been doing some of the forged mesh work for a few years and had shown it to them with the idea of keeping an eye out for a place to use it. So the chance came up with the Chalkboard restaurant in Healdsburg, CA. And now Macfee design is getting some great cudos for their work. We did the sconces, the wing walls, a table base and the wine storage gates and it was a pleasure working with Nordby Construction of Santa Rosa as well. Thanks for letting me work some of my ideas out with you two! 
