Design Process & Philosophy

Every design begins with three principal considerations:

• The study of the surrounding natural environment, the architecture and the client's individual design style. These same considerations go into the Limited Edition Collections for the hearth as they are designed to assimilate into an architectural style.
• A utilitarian study, how will the ironwork be used? Determining the design elements that will maximize the ease of use and appropriateness of design is critical to client satisfaction.
• The choice of materials, joinery, texture and patina critically identify the piece as a finely crafted work of art.

Conceptual drawings come next and for an artist that reveres and studies old world craftsmanship, tools and techniques; modern technology is embraced in this phase of the process. Each drawing starts on the computer drawing tablet facilitating the sharing of ideas with our web-based clients. Once conceptual drawings are complete, they are transformed into working drawings by hand allowing the artist to work through the step-by-step process and final decisions before going to the forge.

Each piece of metal whether mild steel, wrought iron or bronze has a unique elemental composition and responds differently to heat and hammering. As a result new techniques and tools are developed in the shop allowing the artists to design without constraints. In the end each and every piece carries its own unique character just like the elemental materials from which it was created.

The Limited Edition Collections offers a signed and numbered series of up to 200 pieces. Each piece is created just like the custom orders with the conceptual and working drawing, then in the forging process each individual piece is hand worked. As a result of the nature of the metal, hand forging and artistic license, each will have its own unique character. The design will belong to a family of 200, offering some economies.