Polished stainless and stone light fixture

I just finished this ceiling fixture. The frame is mirror polished stainless steel and the shading is achieved by several hundred natural stones.

Solid copper light fixtures

I am hand fabricating two light fixtures for the Richardson house. They will be fixed on top of the two piers that frame the entrance gates. They are modled after Wrights hexagon design of the house. They still need a weeks worth of work. The homeowner and architect have not specified a patina yet.

Copper Bar top

Here is a copper bar that I fabricated for a renovation in Rye NY. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I had to use my phone. The bar top has an 11 foot radius on the leading edge with an iron band in between top and bottom eased edges. The patina is a light brown, natural dark on the edges and lighter in the middle so it looks as if it were there for 100 years.

Richardson House Mailbox

I received the mailbox door and the decorative gate panels from the waterjet cutter. The mounting flange I fabricated for the mailbox door is stinless steel painted red. The door is corten steel and it will have a lexan panel mounted inside to seal the door. The box will be lit from the inside.

Blackened steel cabinet with opaque glass panels

We fabricated a custom cabinet for Pappas Myron interior decorators recently. The finish is a medium blackened steel, center pivot doors, adjustable interior shelves and white opaque glass. I will be building a similar style cabinet to show at this years Architectural Digest home show, March 18-21 2010, Pier 94, NYC, http://www.archdigesthomeshow.com/ Our booth will be M55

new lighting projects

I am completing several pieces of one of a kind fixtures for Tanmatra lighting, http://www.tanmatralighting.com/ One solid bronze vanity fixture using clear round murano glass rods for shading, a matching Bronze ceiling mount fixture with the same glass rods set in as panels. Also several bronze "EYE" pendants with linen shades. I will be finishing two polished stainless steel fixtures and one blackened steel fixture next week.

Frank lloyd Wrights Richardson house

Power was brought out to the gate piers yesterday by the electrician, So I was able to make the gates fully operational today. The FAAC 760 openers are absolutely top of the line. There is no hydraulic noise, They are infinitely adjustable, as far as speed and opening and closing force. We have the system set up with a keypad for entry, an in ground loop buried in the driveway inside the gates that acts as a metal detector and senses the vehicle to automatically open the gates on the way out. I had a little trouble wiring the safety photocells, they were different from what I am used to, so I called Northeast gate supply, where I purchased the system and they were incredibly helpful. The decorative panels and mailbox door are being waterjet cut this week. I have some tune up work tomorrow and will post more pictures after that. Here is a quick video of the gates working

Richardson house 3

Today I fabricated two custom enclosures for the photobeams that are part of the safety system for the electric gate openers. The photobeams sense if there is a vehicle or body in the path of the opening gate. The gate will stop if an object blocks the beam. The photocells are usually mounted on a generic metal post, but we designed a triangle to match the triangular piers used in the fencing. The photocell is recessed into the metal triangle so they are a bit less noticable.

Richardson House Gate installation

Last week I installed the gates at The Richardson house in Glen Ridge. For the top pivot there is a one ton rated ball bearing weld on hinge. The bottom of the gate pivots on the FAAC in ground hydrolic gate opener. I am waiting for the electrician to pull the power wires for power from the house so I can get the system operational. The home owner also requested in ground sensors on the inside of the gates so when she drives out toward them the gates automatically open. These sensors will be put in just before the driveway is repaved. Still to come are the perforated panels on top of the gates that are a repetition of the panels over the doors in the rear of the house, The caps on top of the brick piers, and we will also be hand fabricating two solid bronze light fixtures for the piers directly to the sides of the gates.

stoney brook princeton NJ

I installed the first sections of guard rails in the house project in Princeton today. We brought the two 17' long sections on the bridge in the center of the house up with a chain fall. I lagged a temporary hanger into the main beam above. We also installed several small sections next to a turret room that is above the master bedroom. There will be a swinging gate to access a metal ships ladder to enable you to climb up from the master bedroom to the turret room that overlooks the river. The pictures are a bit bland right now, but as work progresses this will be a magnificent house.

Richardson House fence and gate project

The new fence and gates for Frank Lloyd Wrights Richardson House are progressing well. The main frame for the gates and fence are fabricated from 2x2" corten tube. The pickets are 3/4" solid corten square. Libero is the mason on the job and is incredibly talented. The piers he and his workers have built are all within 1/16". I am spending most of my time in the shop right now fabricating the fence sections. I plan to spend several days on site next week laying out the installation of a FAAC 760 in ground gate opener system. This is a very high quality unit, produced in Italy. The nice part about the system is it is in ground, mounting as the lower pivot of the gate, so there is no large apparatus visible.

Stoney brook railings 2

I am ready to paint, then install all of the upper level railing for the Gittings project in Princeton. Pictured are a few of the machined posts with the mounting flange welded on the bottom. I am also working on two polished stainless steel light fixtures for Tanamatra lighting. It is a new design that incorporates semi precious stones as the shading medium. They will be very pretty. I cannot say that Polished stainless steel is my favorite finish to produce. he hand labor time is very long and painstaking and makes you more filthy than any other process. I will post a few pics next week.

Princeton Interior Railings at Stoney Brook

I am getting into full swing with the job at Stoney Brook in Princeton. This is a spectacular House designed by Bill Gittings and Margaret Korycka architects, http://www.gittingsassociates.com/. Craftsman inspired it will have over 100 feet of hand formed iron railings, including a long bridge that spans the center of the house in order to connect the upper level. The railing design is quite beautiful, all of the posts are tapered from 2 1/4" at the base to 1 1/4" at the top, them capped with a cherry hand rail. The picture shows me using the track burner to cut the nine foot long tapered blades that run from the ceiling to the side of the bridge. More from this job to follow.

French lava stone parsons table

We delivered a parson style outdoor table for a client today. The base is fabricated from 3"x3" tubular square legs, connected with 2"x2" tubular steel with a matte black powder coat. The top is French Lava stone with a ceramic glaze from Catherine Lagot Artisans De France. http://www.catherinelagot.com/ The Lava stone is absolutely spectacular it has a slight crackle in the glaze and there are a multitude of colors available. This table was a brute to install, as the stone was 42" wide and 8' long. Four guys could just handle it.

Outdoor Spring Chairs.

Finally finished are the set of six Spring Chairs that I was comissioned to reproduce. My client first saw them in the movie Casablanca, then searced and searched to no avail. They were originally produced in France in the 1800's, the reproduced in mexico in the 50's. Now no one exept me is willing to make them. They are quite complex, the spring steel temper has to be just right for them to be comfortable, and all of the compound bends are time consuming. Everyone who has sat in them has remarked they are the most comfortable outdoor chairs they have tried. They provide the sensation of floating. I am planning a modern design using the same technology as well as a matching table to debut at ICFF 2010.

Wrights "Richardson House"

I will be attending a meeting tomorrow to confirm measurements and design for a new entrance gate and surrounding fence for Frank Lloyd Wrights "Richardson House" in Glen Ridge NJ. I will be hand fabricating the gates and fencing from Corten steel. This is a material that rusts slightly on surface, then will last generations. Exellent for outdoor applications, Gates, Fencing, planters etc. My work can only be an improvement over the existing gate,