For some time now my mom has been wanting Dave and me to create stair railings for her front porch.  Although I figured out a design a while ago, we are just now getting around to building it and I’m happy to share the progress. 

My mother loves southwestern design motifs and although she lives in North Carolina, she has created a home that hints at the warmth and style of the American southwest.  Eclectic but not overdone, she has added decorative elements like rugs, furnishings, wall hangings and garden ornaments throughout her house & landscape that bring a taste of the southwest to her home .  Soon she will be adding to her collection a metal stair railing as seen above & below.  The railings will be finished with a faux rust powder coat; a great way to achieve an earthy look with the durability and easy maintenance of paint. 

I found inspiration in the beautiful southwest Native American style rugs that are instantly recognizable by their deep colors and bold geometric shapes.  I discovered that the striking patterns lend themselves well to railing design.  I look forward to creating more architectural elements with a native southwestern flair.

Here are just a couple of examples of those wonderful rugs.

This fence doesn’t need to be rebuilt every spring as in Robert Frost’s poem Mending Wall (where the saying in my title originated).  As a matter of fact, it will weather storms quite well and develop its own weathered look along the way. Not too imposing and not completely private, this uniquely simple fence acts more like a decorative screen that divides, not hides, two properties from each other.

Passersby view from sidewalk

The steel fence will be left to rust for a year or so until it develops a deep orange brown. This natural patination process will begin in earnest in the next few weeks as the autumn rains begin to fall here in the Pacific Northwest. Then we’ll treat it with linseed oil (and a touch of turpentine for easier absorption and faster curing time), which will add a satiny richness along with some protection against further rust.

Here are some different views of the fence. I’ll try to post more pictures throughout the year so you can see the aging in process.

Fun side view

View from our yard

Slim side-of-house view

We recently installed this art deco gate for clients in Portland.

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

This was my first time working with the art deco aesthetic, and I must say I’m eager to design more architectural pieces in this style. I love the juxtaposition of modern, clean geometric shapes with rich artistic elements from ancient Egypt and Native America.

Art Deco (excerpted from http://www.decorativearts.com/glossary.html)
Popular decorative design style of the 1920s and 1930s. The name is taken from the exhibitions of Les Arts Decoratifs, where such work was first exhibited. Cubist painting and African and Native American art influenced the development of Art Deco, but the polished, dynamic forms of modern machinery and aircraft were most inspirational. The style is characterized by stepped forms, rounded corners, triple-striped decorative elements, and the use of chromium and black trim. Important practitioners of the style have included (in America) Donald Deskey and Gilbert Rohde. The style was popular for restaurants, theaters, hotels, ocean liners, and Worlds Fair exhibitions, as it did not have the serious theoretical underpinnings that modernism or Bauhaus styles encompassed. The architecture and interiors of the Chrysler Building and the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (both in New York) are good examples of Deco design.

“Art Deco’s ultimate aim was to end the old conflict between art and industry, the old snobbish distinction between artist and artisan, partly by making artists adept at crafts, but still more by adapting design to the requirements of mass-production.”
- Bevis Hillier

To see a related post of this gate in progress go here.

Here are work-in-progress photos of an art deco gate we are creating for clients in Portland. Dave has added the lock box and hinges since these photos were taken. Next stop powder-coat.

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

This is the design rendering we presented to our clients. It was the chosen design from three options we created.

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

To see the finished product go to this post.

You know that place around your house that you’ve ignored for years?  That one room or corner that fills you with dread every time you look it, and yet you still never do anything about it?  For us it’s the south side of the house; never landscaped, overrun with weeds and a stockpile for all the the things we don’t have a place for in the yard.  It’s our outdoor junk drawer.  When I started referring to it as the ghetto, I knew it was high time we did something about it — 11 years after moving in.  

Last year I got all motivated to fix it up and began sketching some fence designs.  For awhile I was fixated on a lotus flower design, but came to realize it might be a little over the top for our old Cape Cod style house.  Plus, this fence  would divide our house and our neighbors’ along a narrow corridor only 12 feet wide.  Since the neighbors would have the best view of the fence, I was a little concerned it might be over the top for them, too.  Suppose they didn’t like it and planted some tall shrubs to cover up the design we worked to hard to create and wanted to show off to potential clients?  So my design process was put on hold.  Mostly because I needed to spend time on jobs that pay.  The cobbler’s kids never have shoes, and I was beginning to think we’d never have a cool metal fence to call our own. 

But recently I went back to my sketchpad and created a simple design I really liked.  Simpler than I would have ever imagined.  Dave ran with it before I could change my mind again and he gained momentum fabricating it this week.  We now have two panels installed and I’m eager to show the progress:

Two out of five metal fence panels installed.

This next photo shows the view passersby get from the sidewalk.

We will let the fence weather for a year to get a solid coat of  rust.  Then we’ll coat it with linseed oil to add richness & depth of color, and to protect the metal.  To maintain a fence like this we’ll try to add a new coat of linseed oil yearly.  Stay tuned for more work in progress and, hopefully soon, a finished fence. 

So, anyone out there want a lotus fence?

Here are three side tables we recently completed. The basic design is simple and sleek:  curved tube legs, glass top and textured powder coat. We created three versions– a single tabletop, another with 2-tier shelving, and an artistic version with a flower motif. We had fun experimenting with new powder coat styles to test what appeals to people.  The durable 2-layer finish makes these tables robust enough to be used outdoors on the deck or patio.  How’s that for classy entertaining!

 Simple accessory table with silver vein powder coat.

Two-shelf accessory table with bronze hammertone powdercoat.

Artistic accessory table with flower motif & grey hammertone powder coat.

We look forward to experimenting with different table top materials — tile, slate, art glass….. Any other ideas? If you are interested in any of these tables or something similar, please contact us for pricing and availability .

Here are some shots of the finished railing for the historic Astoria, OR home I mentioned in my last post.  Powder-coated aluminum and quality workmanship — this railing will last a long, long time!

In the studio – fabrication in process

There is functional art like the kingfisher table in my last post, and then there is Pure Function.  This is the design rendering for an aluminum fence we created for a client who is restoring a beautiful old house in Astoria, OR.  Installation is occuring as I type so I will share photos soon.

Copyright 2009 Cobalt Designworks, LLC

I’ve mostly been writing about our sculpture work lately, but we also design and build functional art for our clients; artistic gates, railings, signs and furniture, for example.  We recently completed this table:

The family of one of our customers wanted to give their mother something handmade for her 80th birthday, so we created a table that matched a decorative railing we made for her last year using a kingfisher as the focal point.  They plan to have each family member — kids & adults – design & paint a ceramic tile that will be included on the tabletop of this outdoor patio table.  Quite a thoughtful gift, I’d say! 

Want a similar table?  We can create other center designs, but I am also quite fond of this table style without the decorative element, and with a glass tabletop.  We offer a myriad of powder coat color choices.

I think I’ll have Dave make one for our own patio!

By the way, here is the matching railing.

Check us out in the Redirect Guide

The ReDirect Guide is the one-stop sustainable lifestyle directory and resource guide featuring hundreds of qualified green and eco/earth-friendly businesses and organizations in the Portland, Oregon & Vancouver, Washington region.

Look for us in the book version which comes out on Earth Day — April 22nd.