The boss of mosaic coat racks

We recently finished a commissioned coat rack based on our line of mosaic coat racks in reclaimed wood frames with hand-forged hooks. This big guy, however, was almost four times as big as our usual coat racks!

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The client's hallway rug was the source of inspiration for both the colors and the design.

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Pulling together the color palette and sketching out design ideas.

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Johannah used grout lines and andamento, the visual flow created by the placement of the tesserae (tiles), to create a sense of movement and balance of colors similar to the rug.

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Kyle created a reclaimed wood frame twice as wide as our usual frames to support both the physical and visual weight of the mosaic. He added his V-style hand-forged hooks to complete the piece.

A few custom coat racks

We first introduced our line of mosaic coat racks with hand-forged hooks and a reclaimed wood frame last fall, and they have turned out to be such a fun item!  We love that they bring together all three components of our work: metal, mosaics, and wood. They're a colorful, unique way to dress up a functional household item. And there's lots of room to make them personal, whether in color, theme, or material. Here are a few of our favorite custom coat racks so far:

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One of our very first custom coat racks was for our smaller two-hook version.

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This was our first coat rack with a frame in reclaimed walnut rather than pine. We loved it so much, we made it a standard part of our coat rack repertoire.

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Arranging the palette for a blue and white mosaic based on the very first one we made in green and white.

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This one incorporates personal objects collected by the client. It was a joy and an honor to put together such a meaningful piece.

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Here's a completed (non-custom) coat rack with hooks installed. For more customization fun, we have two styles of hooks: the V on this coat rack, and a more traditional U style.

Zoom: A working title for a work-in-progress

Johannah took a short creativity break from working on retail items like our mosaic coat racks and mirrors to create a series of images of our home base, Richmond, VA.

I've always loved maps. As a kid, I covered the walls of my room with poster-sized National Geographic maps. Today I love to discover hidden spots on maps to explore in real life, and track long trips with our kids. Maps offer a wide variety of information, and sometimes, a new way to look at the world around us.

Here are a few shots of the process so far in creating my new series of maps.

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The first piece in the series is a roadmap of the metropolitan Richmond region. I wanted to create a look somewhere between the Google map we know today, and a classic road map. The four tiles on the right are background color options. The top three are glass. I ended up going with the unglazed porcelain at the bottom.

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The second piece moves in a bit on the city of Richmond, focussing on the river and human development of the area. This image is based on a satellite image of the region. The river, downtown islands, and densest areas of development are completed here.

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The third and final piece is an aerial view of the heart of downtown Richmond. This is a map of historic transportation routes in the city: interstate (completed here), railroad, street roads, and water.

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The completed series (and my trusty tea mug) awaiting grout and frames.