The Short Story
Los Angeles-based, metal artist offering welding fabrication services in ferrous and non-ferrous metals for homeowners, designers, architects and artists.

The Longer Story

I’m a welder by trade and a self-taught artist from Lincoln Heights in Los Angeles, California. After high school, I went on to meet and work with local gate artists Brett Goldstone and James Nash. I now operate my business in the same community I grew up in. From my parent’s backyard metal shop to today, I’ve been in the shop since 1986.

The kind of work I do is technically called “fabrication work” – but that includes custom furniture like: benches, chairs, garden and patio furniture, table legs, tables, handles, and shelves. Some furniture I have been commissioned to do by a home owner. Other work comes from me – when I have the urge, when I spot material that tells me a story. Business owners have hired me to make shop fixtures, seating, counters and all sorts of different things.

I learned the trade with my dad in the 1990’s and early 2000’s doing fences, gates, doors, decorative elements, security bars and the like. I noted, at a young age, that fear and security were driving my father’s business. How do you keep everyone honest? Make your home resemble a prison!

With the changes going on in these “hip” neighborhoods I primarily find myself working in, and the rise of the inviting ladder-like wood and steel horizontal fencing and muted color palette, it’s becoming obvious that we can do away with the traditional East LA screen, “security”, metal work with its embellished, decorative, scrolls and finials.

As my father would say, “Let’s go! 1,2,3! Boom, boom, boom!” In other words, “Get it done, make the customer happy, and push forward to the next job!”

I still do all sorts of general fabrication, repair, and modification to homes and local businesses. Security bars, fences, and screens are fine with me – if that is what you are looking for! Of course, I also work in a lot of different styles (my portfolio should be evidence of that) depending on what people are looking for.

North East Los Angeles (Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Mount Washington, Montecito Heights, Hermon, Garvanza), Echo Park, Pasadena, Boyle Heights, and Silver Lake have been good to me creatively and professionally. These areas are full of all sorts of creative people, working in all sorts of mediums. I have collaborated with sculptors, painters, glass artists, architects, gardeners, and small business owners. I do work fabricating all kinds of frames, structures, pieces, and elements of pieces for artists working on projects. Burning Man projects are a cottage industry in Lincoln Heights, and I have worked on my fair share of them – cutting, prepping, welding, re-designing, you name it. The work I do on these projects is better described as “collaborating” – as that is typically what is required with these more creative jobs. Someone shows me their idea, full of questions about materials, costs, and dimensions. Together we figure out how to make their vision real.

I have done all sorts of repairs on all sorts of things: bicycles, wheelchairs, and just about anything else made with metal that you encounter in everyday life.

Like my dad always said, “Let’s go! 1,2,3! Boom, boom, boom!”