Regency Row Homes at the Ritz-Carlton

Kyle Crews contacted us recently about making new awnings, doors, and lanterns for the front entrances of the Regency Row Homes at the Ritz-Carlton in Dallas.  And if I may say so myself, designing everything was truly a fun experience; we had a large group of minds sitting around our showroom table throwing out ideas for the project.  Our group even included architect Richard Drummond Davis, with whom I had the pleasure of working in the past of course.  After several hours of discussions, drawings and re-drawings, we finally decided on the designs and they are beautiful!  I can't wait to see everything up... we already started on all of the pieces.  Here is a sneak peak at the table lay-out of work in progress; a wrought iron door panel detail Richard designed.  I hope you like it.

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Copper Table Top

One of our clients had a little mishap with her copper table top; it was completely destroyed.  She brought the table over so that we could take a look at it and decide if something could be done to rescue the piece.  We think restoration is a wonderful way of saving older pieces of metalwork and our clients are always pleasantly surprised when they see the finished work.  After they have lived with the now damaged by time pieces, I suppose it's hard to imagine the potential, yet each time they leave our shop with smiles on their faces.  It's also fun to change the feel of your home by giving your pieces a completely different finish; it's like shopping for new accessories at a fraction of the price. We gave this table top a new modeled patina look.

© antique finish copper table top by Potter Art Metal

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Front Entrance Step Rails

Yet another happy couple!  We custom designed and hand forged these little entry rails for one of our recent clients.  They loved the velvety feel of our brass hand rail, which we ended up putting on top of their railing, as opposed to sticking with wrought iron all around... brass just feels so nice to the touch.  We didn't want to leave the brass bright however, so we created that lived in feel by adding an antique finish with our dark patinas.  We also gave the railings other little brass details throughout.  The new pieces will provide extra safety and a warm welcome to this home for generations to come.

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Do Storefronts Have To Be Bulky?

Of course not!

Here is a nice, custom designed, storefront we made for the Crú restaurant in Houston.  One of our guys snappend a quick cell phone photo for me after they installed it; I'll put up a nicer photo as soon as I get it.  Crú is opening soon in Houston's popular River Oaks neighborhood in the new West Ave development at Westheimer @ Kirby.  Can't wait to see it all finished!

We made the windows as well as the doors; one lovely package.  I think the sleek wrought iron pieces make the storefront look so much nicer then the old fashioned 80s and 90s style bulky aluminum parts, don't you think?  Everything looks so nice and airy.  We're going to start on a restaurant here in Dallas pretty soon too... I'll get some nice pics of that one for sure!

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Contemporary Wrought Iron Doors

As long as we're on the subject of contemporary, here are some nice, easy on the eye, simple lines.  We made a pair of these front doors for a client of ours in Dallas, Texas.  The house is gorgeous and I love the simple dark against light palette which is carried throughout the entire home.  Sometimes simplicity is just what the designer ordered.

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Pine Cone Tree Stair Rail: I have the photos

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One of our clients lives amongst the piney woods and wanted to bring the outside into her home.  I designed this pine cone tree railing especially for her.  

The newell post looks like a tree trunk with the tree roots "growing" around the bottom stair tread.  Each pine cone, needle, and tree branch texture is wrought iron; hand forged of course.

The detail in this design is impecable; to the left is a photo of a section of the railing about two third's way finished.  As you can see, every single layer is made piece by piece and then welded together to make a pine cone or needle.  Each pine cone has its own personality; some are closed, some open, some are larger, some smaller.  This section was made so that we could show the client all the little details we were proposing; we ended up not using almost all of them in the actual railing.

I  love it when we get a client who is thinking outside of the norm; it's so much fun to come up with unusual metalwork designs.  Based on this design, we also ended up making a tree-like chandelier, as well as a three-tiered, 10' tall fandelier.  It's amazing how one thing inspires you to push the design further and dream up a brand new concept which is then fulfilled in wrought iron, brass, copper or aluminum.

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written by: Izabela Wojcik