What brought you to Etsy?
My craft has taken me down several avenues. One is mostly commissioned decorative functional metalwork. Another is making pieces based on my own desire and need to create. When I was looking for an outlet to showcase the pieces of my own design, I consulted my brother, Chris Ryniak, who is evolved in the arts community on a grandiose scale. Without hesitation he said “Etsy. You need to be on Etsy.” And here I am. Thanks, Chris.what brought you to etsy?

When did you start making things?
I need to make stuff. It is my nature.  I made my first piece of furniture when I was in grade school. It was an ugly wooden bench painted white, and I never stopped creating from there. Living near Detroit, I worked in the field of mechanical design for nine years, all the while building furniture in my garage. This job was lame so I switched gears and took a two-year apprenticeship at an architectural metal studio as well as taking blacksmithing classes at the Collage for Creative Studies. Now I run my own metal studio with my wife full time, as well as raising my daughter, who was born in 2006.

A lot of my items are functional. I get design inspiration everywhere, especially found and discarded objects. I have never been able to create my ideas as fast as I come up with them, so I hope to continually add items to my Etsy shop to keep it fresh.

What's your favorite thing about Etsy so far?
Etsy is AWESOME! It creates an atmosphere of goodness. I get a lot of people sending me messages just saying my pieces are cool. This is a great motivator for me. It makes me want to push my skills to the next level. And even though Etsy is global, it has a cool sense of community. The ability to shop locally is sweet. I have also met a few people around town that happened to have Etsy shops as well.

Be sure to check out the rest of his shop, as well as some of the other great blacksmiths here on Etsy!