DEPARTMENTS

Market Makers

By Emily Van Cleve


Christopher Thomson Ironworks

Fire, work with me

Friends joke that I work with iron to be around fire,” says Christopher Thomson, who owns a 5,000-square-foot iron working shop located between Santa Fe and Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Getting hot and sweaty are everyday experiences for Thomson and his small group of shop assistants. Christopher Thomson Ironworks turns out superbly crafted iron items ranging from tables, chairs, and coat racks to andirons, fireplace grating, and gates. “Sometimes you can see the hammer marks in pieces,” Thomson says. “I leave some pieces rustic so they have a primitive feel to them.”
Thomson’s commissions have included the designing and forging of over-sized door hardware for the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque and the custom designing and forging of andirons and a fireplace grate for the Armand Hammer United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico. He received a top award from Niche magazine, a trade publication for American crafts retailers, for a dinner party table he designed.
Thomson’s architectural lighting sells like hotcakes. Clients have ordered hand-forged sconces, pendants, and lanterns for both the interior and exterior walls and ceilings of their homes.

Christopher Thomson Ironworks, 5851 I-25 Frontage Road, Ilfeld, NM 87562, (505) 421-2645, www.ctiron.com. Call for a studio visit.

Adobelite Adobe Brickface System

Fool me twice

They may have the look and feel of adobe, but John Quitzau’s Adobelite interior and exterior wall panels are made out of clay-toned concrete rather than earth and straw. Quitzau casts the lightweight panels from molds made from real adobe walls, capturing in the concrete the same pleasing irregularities found in adobe. The panels can be painted in an assortment of colors and customized with lighted nichos and other details. The Adobelite Adobe Brickface Wall System can be installed on most kinds of wall surfaces, Quitzau says.
While contractors and homeowners have been Quitzau’s primary customers since he formed the company in 2002, currently he also targets the do-it-yourself homeowner. “We have recently put together a good installation manual so homeowners can feel comfortable about doing the work themselves,” says Quitzau. Best of all, no power tools are required.

Adobelite Adobe Brickface Wall System, 9614 Cochiti S.E., Albuquerque, NM 87123, (505) 254-2720, www.adobelitewalls.com

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La Tierra, Inc.

Beam me a board

Glass shower enclosures, wooden doors, and stone furniture tops are just a few of the many items La Tierra, Inc. can engrave with its special laser engraving machine. The process begins when Samuel Buck, the company’s creative director, digitally manipulates the client’s photo or sketch of the design. This step, taken before light beam hits hard surface, allows the client to see how the object will actually look when engraved—and to reduce, enlarge, or otherwise modify the design to taste. Clients have enjoyed engravings of people, flowers, and landscapes on a wide variety of objects in their homes, Buck says.
“I’m often asked if the laser process hurts the integrity of glass,” Buck explains. “The answer is absolutely not. The laser is simply a beam of light that won’t harm glass in any way.”

La Tierra, Inc., P.O. Box 1178, 201 Calle Industrial, Bernalillo, NM 87004, (505) 867-0796, www.latierrainc.biz


Arnie Fuog

Twigs to a T

Don’t ask Arnie Fuog where he gets the abundant supply of reddish-colored salt cedar twigs he uses to craft his custom-made twig shutters. The exact location is a secret, but Fuog will say that he harvests the site during the winter because it’s too darn hot in the summer. He hand picks all the twigs, trims them in his shop, and lets them dry for two months before use. When clients want a golden look to their shutters, Fuog may choose willow instead, peeled or unpeeled. He uses oak, pine, and alder for the shutter frames.

“There are a variety of stains I can use to make sure that the shutters perfectly match a home’s existing decor,” Fuog explains. “One of the myths about twig shutters is that they only fit well with Old World–style homes. Many of my clients own modern homes. If they want twig shutters painted white, for example, I can do that, too.”
While unpainted twig shutters should be oiled occasionally, Fuog says customers needn’t worry that the bark will fall off over time. “Even after 15 years, twig shutters can look brand new,” he says.

Arnie Fuog, P.O. Box 501, Ribera, NM 87560, (505) 470-4053. Studio visit by appointment.

Copyright 2003 Hacienda Press