I strive to produce commissioned work which is invested with my vision, sensibilities as a designer, and skill as a craftsman; work based upon my interaction with individuals and their environments. Whether speaking of projects for individual clients or work for public environments, this has always been an enticing and rewarding challenge. Although much of the work I design and produce is contemporary in design, most all is deeply rooted in traditional techniques. My work is based on working with fire, hammer and anvil; ancient processes of hot forging iron and steel. Thus, the work is invested with strong visual character of joinery details and surface features impossible to produce by any other methods.
Inspiration comes to me from many sources. Careful observation and study of the natural environment informs me. The nature of the materials, hot iron and steel, and their responses to being worked certainly are manifest. What are the characteristics of a project and of both the built and the natural environments where a project will reside? Often, coming to know my clients and how they will live with the work I make becomes significant in my designing. I believe that these objects I have made help illuminate the narrative of who we are, where we come from, what we believe in and what is unique or special about the places we call home.
Douglas E. Wilson, Artist / Blacksmith
