The Mind of Leo Dowell

I asked Leo Dowell to snap a few photos for me of the lanterns we custom made for him in the surroundings of the home he designed, because I'm simply in love with his fairy tale like architectural details he creates.  I have to say that the wait was worth every minute!  As soon as I looked at the photos attached to my e-mail, a large smile appeared on my face and my heart warmed with feelings of happiness!

Leo creates these fabulous French Country Estates as authentic as possible, but his little extra touches are what makes the homes that much more special.  Take a look at the adorable hand painted wooden shutters, don't they look like they came straight out of a fairy tale?  That's exactly what I'm talking about!

The lanterns we bult for the front doors needed an extra special bracket, since the gas line had to come out of the top of the lanterns and attach way above it and to the side, as you can see in the photo above.  Yet instead of dropping pendants  from those locations, Leo came up with a way to still have beautifully mounted bracket lanterns; no detail is too small in Leo's world!  He thinks like us in that way, and that's one of the many reasons why we love him so much.

Now, if there's one custom made copper and wrought iron lantern you must see, it's this one!  Leo designed it and we fabricated it with delight!  Isn't it the most adorable design you have ever seen? Next time I'm in Charlotte, (NC) I'll be sure to visit him and hopefully see some of his work personally!

written by: Izabela Wojcik

Dropped by the Ritz today...

Most of our job sites are very far from our showroom and shop, but it just so happens that the Ritz is super close.  Today Richard and I dropped by to see how things are coming along.  Everyone at the Ritz is thrilled with the four entrances we made for the Residences, and that's the way we like it!
And to think it all started with an idea by Kyle Crews, a design inspiration by Richard Drummond Davis, and a few extra thoughts from the entire Crescent Real Estate and their Tower Residences Sales Team, including Travis, who kept everyone on track and everything moving along beautifully; ha!  It was so much fun... I had a blast designing the pieces and turning them into reality.  Our Potter Art Metal Studios artisans did a fabulous job forging the wrought iron doors, creating the fabulous awnings, and bringing to life the lantern designs.  What an accomplishment!  Everyone should be really proud of themselves!

Thank you all for a job well done!

Izabela Wojcik

Potter Art Metal Studios

One of the four entrances we custom made the
doors, awnings and lanterns for the Ritz in Dallas.

Street view of the building; you can see all four entrances.

glass top decorative metal awning

closeup of one of the wrought iron door kick-plates

close-up of the wrought iron anthemion
with solid brass details.

One of the original Regency Style inspired
drawings I made for the Ritz.

And just in case you were wondering, this is how all 4 units looked like before... quite a difference:)

written by: Izabela Wojcik