hammeronsteel

I often admire and wonder about the ways that lines intersect in the world around me. While it's true that this informs my work, it is perhaps more useful to point out that I love cooking breakfast for my friends. The company of comrades makes my work fulfilling. I also happen to love the weight of my hammer and the heat of my forge.

I went to school to become an astrophysicist. Over time, I was drawn to the manipulation of volumes. After a brief venture into 3D digital modeling, I discovered that it was far more rewarding to move materials in real space. When steel is heated, it becomes malleable, like a very stiff clay. By swinging a hammer, constraining angles and momentum, this hot steel can be shaped into any number of forms. My studies took a sharp shift immediately following this discovery.

After spending a few years working in blacksmiths' shops in Wyoming, Brooklyn, Iceland and San Francisco, I landed back here in Western Massachusetts. BMW Ironworks (aka HammeronSteel) was touch and go for a while. I spent a few seasons living in a tent, basing my operations out of a dear friend's garage. A combination of private commissions and craft shows kept my hammer swinging, and the bills paid.

Since the fortuitous confluence in the fall of 2009 between national recognition in the Men's Journal December gift guide, and meeting my now-partner in life and work, Carolyn Clayton, things have rolled along quite nicely. She encouraged me to open my shop in its current incarnation.

I now have the pleasure of employing a half-dozen good folks, and we make good gear. In addition to managing correspondence here on Etsy and orchestrating fabrication projects, Carolyn makes art that pushes envelopes and broadens minds. Check her out at www.carolynclayton.net. With the help of my fearless, faithful and fantastic assistants, I create works ranging from the hand-held to the half-ton.

I take on commissions ranging from restaurant furnishings and lighting to custom railings. I also spend rather a lot of time hand-forging personalized bottle openers for the pals of soon-to-be-weds.