Fabrication & Blacksmithing
We don’t do horseshoes here, but blacksmithing and fabrication occur at our Vancouver studio. Cutting, heating, forming, shaping and bending metal are all part of the craft. Here, I consult and collaborate with individuals and diverse professionals in the Vancouver area on how best to design and fabricate what they have in mind.
The blacksmith reminds us of a simpler era. It’s one of those traditional trades uncommon and unusual in our industrial society, bringing a sense of nostalgia and yearning and reminding us of our heritage and a slower time.
But don’t think this is only an ancient art. People with discriminating taste who want their heirlooms restored find their way here too. In a city as large as Vancouver, walking into a small fabrication and blacksmithing shop is a treat, and for some, a dream come true. It’s intimate, personal, and gets the imagination going.
We know this to be accurate because our clients bring us projects of all kinds. Some even want to learn from us – and we love showing them how. Find out about industrial and personal training here. And for more projects, check out our portfolio.
Fabrication and Blacksmithing for Your Special Designs
When you have a design that you would like to bring to life but are not quite how we work with you to figure it out and get it just right, slowing down to understand our clients’ needs is at the heart of our work because the personal connection is what we cherish.
Integrating Art + Function
One Vancouver client with excellent woodworking skills asked us to fabricate the metal parts for stairs, hooks and kitchen shelving for his family’s loft condo suite. These forged decorative coat hooks were for a steel and wood stairwell. Our client wanted to use the space under the stairs in his home to hang coats. We bolted heavy bar stock to the mounting plates, then formed them into T-shapes and angles. For flair, we made tiny forged leaf designs on the ends.
Another woodworker from the local coop brought us his design for a table base and legs. We fabricated and machined steel tubes and an angled steel base plate and finished it with a sanded, polished look to create this angled dining table for a local business.
Home Décor
This 30″ Tree of Life was for a glass-topped table. However, after many comments from visitors to the Eastside Culture Crawl who loved it as it was, we listened and made it into a decorative wall hanging. We have 9-inch versions as well for sale.
These three-legged stands are ready for potted plants or as art stands. Finished with a clear polyurethane coating, you can use them for art or even keys by adding a wood, glass or ceramic surface. The decorative lamp can be mounted on the outside of a home or kept on its stand.
Though not everyone has air conditioning in Vancouver, there are other ways to let the breeze cool our spaces. We used our blacksmithing skills to build this ornamental, lightweight and removable security screen. These clients needed both security and beauty in a light screen that they could put up in the morning and remove at the end of each hot summer day. This screen allowed air to flow from the back of the house through the front, keeping their home cool and, most importantly, safe.
Helping Artists Showcase Their Work
Artists come to us to design and create specialized stands, mountings and armatures. Our client’s glass art was exhibited at the Vancouver International Airport. We’ve made other stands for local Vancouver artists Anyuta Gusakova, Georgina Lohan and Tanis Saxby.