Whether a client wants a single design element or an entire room, Joe Ginsberg’s full-service custom design fabrication shop can oblige. In fact, his favorite projects are ones in which he works closely with the builder or owner to create a whole environment involving unique applications and designs. Shown here is a curved glass and copper bar.
There isn’t a metal alloy Ginsberg hasn’t worked with; his firm is also well-versed in all kinds of cementitious materials such as concrete, limestone, marble, and aggregates. Wood, glass, resins, and plasters are part of his repertoire as well. Ginsberg can execute the design and fabrication of doors, walls, floors, partitions, light fixtures, furniture, cabinetry, countertops, faucets, sinks, showers and baths, mosaics, and architectural details and elements. A project’s design aesthetic walks the line between maintaining the client’s comfort zone and challenging that comfort zone, he says.
Joe Ginsberg Inc.
212.465.1077.
www.joeginsberg.com.
—Stephani Miller
Vahallan Papers’ hand-painted kraft-paper wall coverings come in more than 100 standard patterns and can be made in custom colors to match a paint swatch or fabric.
The papers are available in a variety of formats, including large strips, squares of different sizes, different-colored circles, and same-sized diamonds. They are cut according to the measurement of the wall and include an overage factor for waste.
Adhering with standard clear, strippable paste, the papers require no coatings, sealers, or lacquers. They can be applied in a variety of ways. Random tears create a seamless finish, and users can also create patterns using different shapes in monochromatic or multi-colored schemes.
Vahallan Papers.
866.795.6682.
www.vahallan.com.
—Victoria Markovitz
Designer Art Donovan fabricates a variety of items, but he says lighting has always been his passion. “There’s just something about an object that glows in the dark that’s fascinated me since I can remember,” he says.
In 1990, he started making lights in a “mid-century Modern style,” but he says his tastes have become more eclectic, including Indian, Moroccan, Asian, island, and other world influences. The Lotus lamp, shown here, came about when a client in New York City wanted an art deco design in a non-traditional style. The shade features a 3-D moiré fabric. As the viewer moves around the lamp, Donovan says, the shapes seem to shift.
Along with working with clients on custom lighting, Donovan can modify his own designs, which are displayed on his Web site; make matching lighting for existing pieces; and create whole-room lighting. He works with many materials, from poplar to brass.
Donovan Design.
631.283.8175.
www.donovandesign.com.
—V.M.
Visiting quarries across the globe, David Luster, president of Advent Design International, personally selects the boulders that become his company’s soaking tubs. They are hand-carved on location by stone masters, placed into custom wood crates, and shipped to the jobsite or home.
Available in a variety of styles such as oval, rectangular, or sunken and in stone types such as travertine, limestone, and marble, the tub is usually the largest piece in the bathroom. For example, Luster says an oval tub can measure 78 inches long, 48 inches wide, and 25 inches high.
Usually, a phone interview gets the design process started. A customer’s size, the design elements of the room, and the desired color and finish of the tub are taken into consideration. Advent Design also offers stone basins, solid stone walls with incorporated basins, 5-foot-by-7-foot solid stone showers with hand-carved etched blue glass, stone benches, and stone vanities.
Advent Design International.
201.444.0426.
www.adventstone.com.
—V.M.
For its specialty Mirror Unique glass, Jockimo combines an old technique for antiquing mirrors with a back-painting process that gives the product a “bump of color,” company president Tim Czechowski says.
Available in 20 standard colors, including ones that imitate granite and marble, the glass is produced and painted by hand. It is also available in customized colors and fabrications. The glass can be laminated, tempered, leaded, or insulated.
The mirrors have many applications, says Czechowski, but some of the most popular uses have been for backsplashes and entry walls. One customer in Dallas used large panels of copper-colored glass behind a bar. Laminated for safety, the glass also featured air bubbles. Another customer in New York City used different-colored mirrors to create a collage effect on a wall.
Jockimo.
949.251.1560.
www.jockimo.com.
—V.M.
Producing urinals that are works of art, Clark Sorensen sculpts high-fire porcelain into large-scale shells and flowers. He does not use molds, so each piece is unique. The urinals feature holes for plumbing, with the flush valve on top. Sorensen uses standard sizes and also can accommodate special requests, such as aligning the holes so plumbing can be placed inside the wall.
Customers can order existing designs, posted on Sorensen’s Web site, or submit requests for new sculptures. Sorensen can also produce existing styles in custom colors. However, special orders take five to eight months to complete, because porcelain has a long drying time.
In addition to urinals, Sorensen makes leaf, shell, and flower bowl sinks that measure about 18 to 22 inches in diameter.
Clark Sorensen.
415.401.0383.
www.clarkmade.com.
—V.M.
Designing and fabricating products that range from lighting fixtures to steel slot fencing, Artifice always keeps things simple. “We’re not designers who do different styles,” says Amy Hovis, who founded the company with fabricator Jean Goehring. “We do our own modern style.”
One of the company’s most-requested items is oversized steel-and-glass pivot doors, which can be produced in any size or dimension. Artifice recently finished an 11-by-6-foot entry door that opens and pivots off-center. The firm can also plan entire areas. “It’s hard for us not to want to tackle the whole façade,” Hovis says. “We’ll put a door in and notice the lighting really needs help.” For new construction, the company just needs measurements, but its artists prefer to do site visits for existing homes.
Artifice.
512.278.8888.
www.artifice.squarespace.com.
—V.M.
