“My grandfather was a sheet-metal worker. He just loved to work with metal, and there really wasn’t anything he couldn’t do. He pounded and heat-processed steel, zinc, copper, aluminum - any metal he could get his hands on. He designed and produced fountains, kitchen cabinets, tables, swamp coolers, you name it. He even manufactured the basic nuts and bolts for his designs. And he was an inventor as well. His most famous design was in the 1920’s, when he received the patent for spring-action cigarette butt stands. Those stands ended up in practically every apartment lobby and movie theatre in the country. You can still find them today in antique shops and prop houses.

I am very, very proud of my grandfather, and very grateful. Even when I was a little kid, he’d let me hang out in his shop and watch him work. I was fascinated. Then one day, when I was about 10 years old, he handed me a piece of metal. Help me out with this, he said. You’re old enough. You can do it. And he was right. I could do it. And I loved doing it as much as he did.

Mother says that I have my grandfather’s hands. I’d like to believe that, along with his old tools, I inherited his talent as well. What I know is, I wake up every morning with that same thought he had: Let’s see what we can come up with today!”

Prices range from $350 - $1100. depending on size