Logo
My son Dominic is trying out a logo idea here for me and I thought I’d show it off. It has a nice feel to it; it conveys the hand crafted nature of what we do here. Charles Espy did the photos.
Logo idea
It’s night (and day)
In architectural metalwork, the play of natural light and dark is always a little maddening. Usually when making an exterior light fixture one mainly considers natural light and how the metal will affect it’s surroundings during the day. However, night falls and the illumination comes not from the sun and externally, but from within, source based if you will, and sometimes you get results that are totally unexpected. Here you see a day version of an entry.
The steel fixtures work well with the stone, beams and glass and this is really the main context for which they were designed.
However, night falls and the lights come on and what a difference!
Now, I readily admit it’s difficult to design in this context, but you have to consider it as the work becomes so dramatically different in the dark. The center chandelier lights down only to light the door step and it’s form kind of disappears in the dark; the sconces wash the masonry with light and there is more light coming from the interior of the home. Things to think on!
Inspiration for a Metal Stair Railing
As I watch my garden growing again this spring, I think about how much the Creators infinite variety of shapes affects my design sense. The broad leaves of the bush bean, the beautiful swirls of the cabbage, the graceful tendrils of the peas trying to support themselves and my personal favorite, the Hubbard squash and pumpkins with their giant leaves, soon to be a jungle
at one end of the garden.
The first custom stair railing I ever made was inspired by garlic; the long twist flat leaves and the seed stem with it’s roller coaster bends and turns. But the idea is to take that inspiration and turn it into something new, as a painter does a landscape. The suggestion is there but it has your creative slant/artistic to it…..and it has to look good and fit the space as well!
Another source of inspiration is how other cultures have chosen to express themselves visually. I had a recent job that was inspired by the pueblo culture of the southwest. Basically I was inspired by their artistic inspiration of creation. Their geometric graphics on pottery….interpretations of nature.
So we ended up with a railing that was geometrically graphic in style but not a direct copy of their work. Just inspired by
The pickets were worked off a kachina legging, but simple. The tops of the pickets were from the shoulders of a kachina. The decorative band was inspired by a Navajo blanket detail.
All this to say, as my dad use to say to me, your brain is your most valuable tool. Use it!
The Rhythm of Good Design
When I first start designing a custom metalwork, I think about rhythm. Good design to me has a rhythm to it. Visually, it’s what holds the work you’re creating together. Then there is the bigger picture of how the piece fits into the space. Is it part of the rhythm of the room? Or, is it the soloist who plays off the visual rhythm set down by other things in the room.
The need may be a dining room light in a many windowed room with tremendous views. Does the view inspire something grand or something subtle? Something with curve to break up strong lines or something that reinforces the linear nature of the room?
Today’s design trends are very fluid. The spareness of the modern looks appeals to many, but may not be practical for some home situations. Some homes are massive in scale and require bold accents lest they get lost in the space. The rhythm of this chandelier is the circle with the layered square panels playing off the circle.
The solo is when the lights are on, but it’s subtle. The rhythm is also the large wood rafters and purlins and the granite stone walls that the steel color is set against in the room. Line and curve; stone, wood and steel; color and shape.
Other situations need a little texture to set off a clean modern line. House jewelry if you will. This mirror frame detail suggests a worn antiquity placed inside the modern frame. The two set each other off.
I really enjoy the process of trying to bring something into play that is unexpected; a surprise; a client saying “Oh!. That is so COOL!”
