Forged Steel Botanicals

From his earliest days as a blacksmith, Kyle has enjoyed forging flowers, leaves, and other botanical structures. It’s a unique and satisfying challenge to transform hard, flat steel into the fluid shapes of plants. Here are a couple recent projects that put those skills to use.

First up is a small tabletop bamboo sculpture. This piece stands about 12” tall and was included in our exhibit as guest artists of the month at Crozet Artisan Depot a few years ago.

Next is a set of shelf brackets designed around a grapevine and leaf motif. A winery near Vancouver, British Columbia reached out to us about creating these custom brackets for their new tasting room.

You can see other examples of Kyle’s botanical forging in other blog posts, including a double-leaf tree gate, a custom mantle mirror, and an exterior cat tail sculpture.

Fixtures for Vasen Brewing Company

We were happy to help our friends and neighbors at Vasen Brewing Company out with a series of custom fixtures. Their beautiful new taproom features the fine work of many local Richmond companies and makers. Stop by to take it all in and grab a pint of one of their specialty farmhouse ales!

We worked with lighting designer Wendy Umanoff to create this large, forged steel chandelier that hangs in the entrance of the taproom. Scroll though the photos to see a few our process shots.

Forged steel chandelier by Umanoff Design and Phoenix Handcraft. Photo by Umanoff Design

When it came time to create a sign for the brewery, our signature folded steel bowls and wall sculptures provided just the right inspiration.

Forged sign on reclaimed wood at the Vasen tasting room

Our next project for the taproom was a foot rail for the bar. We forged the foot rail from heavily textured solid steel round bar, along with coordinating brackets to hold it in place.

Forged steel footrail at the Vasen tasting room bar

And last but certainly not least, we forged steel brackets to support the live-edge drink rails created by our friends at Surface Architectural. Bonus peek of the talented Emily Herr's mural in the background.

Forged bar brackets in the Vasen tasting room

Stone Brewing Co. Furniture & Hardware

While building their East Coast brewery here in Richmond, the fine folks at Stone Brewing Co. - Richmond approached us about creating some custom furniture for the tasting room. Take a peek into the process behind the custom tables and fixtures we created for them.

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Working on picnic and cafe tables.

Custom tables ready for delivery! Reclaimed wood tops created by  Van Jester Woodworks.

And now for our favorite part! The two top photos here show Kyle's assistant, Kallen, forging strap hinges for the tour door at the brewery. In the bottom photos, Kyle is forging gargoyle horn handles designed after Stone Brewery's logo for the door.

There it is! Our hand-forged hardware installed on the tour door made by Van Jester Woodwoorks.

Hope you get a chance to stop by Stone for a brew. And if you do, let us know what you think of the tables and tour door!