#hand forge

My questions about zoning led me to this insightful article in The Atlantic, which puts the birthday of U.S. zoning codes at nearly one hundred years ago: New York, 1916.

While aimed primarily at the regulation of building design to offset what would later be called the urban canyon effect, the codes also established separate business and residential districts.

But while this was the first legal effort to dictate who does what and where, Los Angeles had previously experimented with separating industry from residences, in the name of maintaining property values.

Fast forward to today, when a woman blacksmith in Red Hook, Brooklyn operates her forge in a converted garage outside her home. It remains the only place in NYC where you can learn the trade.

Marsha Trattner's studio and home were both flooded during Sandy, leading her to reevaluate how she conceives of work and home. She took her forge to the stage, as part of a fascinating collaborative music installation called Where (We) Live.

(For more on the intersections of blacksmithing and music, check out Sound Forge this summer at Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft.)

"I hammer metal and work on my torch," Trattner says in the Wall Street Journal piece. "If that's a place of home for me, then that's a place of home."

Putting aside, for now, the poetics and politics of urban planning, the most practical questions remain. Is there still room for the village blacksmith in today's urban village? What laws and regulations apply to my shop?

A lot, it turns out.

And it all varies from city to city, state to state.

Hobbyists can usually figure out a way to work at home and remain within city codes, but small businesses need to do more homework, and watch their language, too. An artist's "studio" may be within ordinances as a professional office, while a "shop" may be considered manufacturing, and therefore subject to different zoning laws.

Our nostalgic vision of the village smith implied more ambiguous borders between work and home, between art and a traditional trade. Though we may have more red tape to get through these days, I believe we're seeing a reemergence of that fluidity. With the changing economy, we've seen a revitalization of the artisan market in the U.S., a renewed conversation about quality goods over "quantity at a good price."

Maybe the village has changed, but the village smith still has a place in it.

Here are two new openers that came out of the forge early this new year.

Lyle based the steel opener on the left on our riveted opener, but chose to eliminate the bail for a slimmer profile. He also stamped a flower into the hot steel using several of his own handmade punches. Next, using files, chisels, and grinders, he carved the end of a bar of tool-steel to get the desired pattern.  To finish, he set the flower center with a little silver rivet.

The opener on the right is made from solid silicon bronze. Lyle heats a 3/4" thick piece of round bar and works it to shape on the anvil, hot-punching the center hole by hand. He then hand-drifts it to give the leaf its form and the opener its function.

Photo: Jenn Levo

We're happy to continue our series of customer profiles with a story from Jenn Levo, a veritable renaissance woman and wearer of Hand Forge who lives in Portland.

Jenn found us at an ADX show last year. In this Q & A, she tells us a little bit about her impressive athletic and creative work. She even sketched a portrait of her ring, below.

Check out what's new on her graphic design site, and follow her irreverent and creative blog, paper bag history.

Thanks so much, Jenn, for participating!

Are you a Hand Forge customer who wants to participate in a customer profile? Contact us!

Tell us about your work.

I'm a graphic designer. Not only do I do a fair amount of freelance in my spare time, but I'm the Front End Manager at Vanilla Bicycle Company here in Portland. At Vanilla, I take care of not only our graphic design, but also all of our customer service, blogging, invoicing, etc, .... fun stuff.

What do you love about what you do?

At Vanilla, I love helping to create something that someone is going to get a lot of enjoyment out of. It's one thing to make something that at the end of the day you just hope doesn't end up in a landfill somewhere, but it's another thing entirely to help create something that creates stories. Bikes do that.

What are the biggest challenges?

The biggest challenge is just trying to stay on top of everything, have a little fun on the sides and still find some time to sleep.

One of the things we love hearing from our customers is how their new ring or necklace fits into their active lives. Many of them work with their hands, play outdoors, or travel frequently. Where does your Hand Forge ring go during a typical day of work and play?

My ring goes on my hand first thing in the morning. Then it has a rainy bike ride to work, hangs out there for eight hours, then rides back home and then usually to the gym where I also teach spin classes. My ring is very familiar with a computer mouse and bicycle handlebars.

What do you love about your ring? Why did you decide to make it your own?