Railing with Many Stairs

Kyle designed this series of forged, minimalist hand railings for a home located on a hillside.

The terraced steps and curving lines of the property provided an interesting challenge. Each railing required custom measurements and templating to fit the various spaces.

The result is a series of railings ranging from winding, organic lines to more traditional forms, tied together with a cohesive style.

We made this video to share on social media while Kyle and his team were forging some of the railing components. We were in the midst of a heat wave here in Virginia, so the Bananarama song “Cruel Summer” seemed a particularly fitting soundtrack.

Forging custom railing.

For the entrance to the home, Kyle designed a relatively spare set of hand railings in the same style. He added a spiral flourish to the end plus a hand-forged bronze finial to give this set of railings a bit of presence.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Front entrance railing in the studio.

View fullsize

Same railing painted & installed.

Here’s a sample of the range of railings Kyle and his team created for this lovely property.

Ready to start designing your own custom railing? We are currently booking for this coming fall. Reach out and let’s chat!

Hummingbird Mosaic for a Kitchen Backsplash

A client commissioned these custom mosaics to honor a hummingbird-loving family member. They were renovating their kitchen and wanted to include this special memory in the new backsplash.

The client provided imagery of hummingbirds they associated with their family member, as well as fabric and tile samples related to the renovation. We ended up designing two different hummingbirds:

• one hummingbird in darker colors to match the inspiration image

• the other hummingbird in lighter colors to coordinate with the new kitchen.

You can see in the sketch we originally thought we’d create a green border around the hummingbird but ultimately decided to leave it off.

Hummingbird mosaic image inspiration

Hummingbird mosaic sketch

Lighter hummingbird mosaic material selection

Darker hummingbird mosaic material selection

Darker hummingbird mosaic in progress

Once the two mosaics were complete, we installed the darker one in a custom metal frame. We grouted the lighter mosaic, leaving a gap around outside edge to allow it to be installed in the new backsplash.

View fullsize

View fullsize

You can see the lighter hummingbird installed in the backsplash below. It’s always such an honor to work on projects that are personally meaningful to the client.

View fullsize

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.

View fullsize

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.

View fullsize