Scottsdale Art Factory Built On American Arts And Crafts Foundation

William Morris (1834-1896 ) Was the driving force behind the English Arts and Crafts movement. 

John Ruskin (1819-1900) Was an early proponent of Arts and Crafts ideals. 

Gustave Stickley (1858-1942) Known as the father of the American Arts and Crafts movement. 

Joseph Marbella (1867-1947) Inspired Italian master craftsman. 

Also inspired by these pioneers of craftsman style furniture was Charles Greene (artist), Henry Greene (engineer) and John and Peter Hall master craftsman from Stockholm Sweden. Beginning in Pasadena California, around 1904 the Green's got the contract to build the Gamble house and its furnishings. The teaming of their talents using these pioneers designs as a foundation to build from allowed the Greenes and Halls to produce furnishings that were a higher quality than Gustave Stickley's mass produced designs. The Greenes and Halls designs were all one of a kind furnishings. No unfinished backs or bottoms. Attention to detail was the order of the day. Function and style was kept in mind but foremost the focused was on the highest quality. These furnishings were mostly built for the privileged few such as the Gambles, Fords, Blackers, and Robinsons to name a few of the famous and ultra rich of the time period. This allowed Greene and Greene to be able to build what was called the Ultimate Bungalows. Not only were these vacation homes state of the art in their time but the furnishing were also custom built to fit each customers wants and needs with no thought of them ever being mass produced. This allowed the Greenes to build investment quality furnishing that would stand the test of time. Today you will find Stickly furnishings in many antique stores around the country. However a Greene & Greene can only be found in museums or in the homes of wealthy collectors.

Just a few miles away in Riverside County the Marbella brothers, master craftsman in their own right,are influenced by these builders, designers, and master craftsman. They notice they are practicing their craft in a way consistent to their own family values taught to them in Italy. These Italian immigrants with meager finances and no big money connections had a parcel of land and began to process lumber and manufacture in Arizona.

Every creative enterprise is always built on a foundation that was laid down by its predecessors. People who themselves were in turn dependent on the groundwork laid down by those who came before. Gustave Stickley's impact was felt far and wide at the time, he became a major factor in American furniture design. Gustave Stickly and the Greene's and Halls were the greatest early influence on the Marbella brothers concepts. These pioneers had laid down the foundation that the Marbella brothers would build upon in America. 

Still building upon this foundation,is a direct decedent of the Marbella brothers. World renown artist, master craftsman in his own right and designer H.J.Nick carries on to this day the same ideals, methods and master craftsmanship. 

Today known as Scottsdale Art Factory located in Scottsdale Arizona this factory is currently building some of the worlds finest handmade entrance doors, hand carved theme doors, custom investment quality furniture, hand-forged lighting chandeliers and hardware. All built to world class standards set down by these predecessors. 

H.J.Nick's Scottsdale Art Factory is one of the largest handmade in America manufacturers. Featuring a state of the art design department headed by H.J.Nick himself. Designs built today are a joint collaboration between the customer and their design department. Using high tech and low tech these investment quality designs are limited only by the customers imagination. 

Staying true to Gustave Stickly's American arts and crafts principals. Using Greene and Greene and Halls philosophy of raising the bar to the finest investment quality Scottsdale Art Factoryhas been able to continue to raise the bar even more. By training the nearly lost art of the master craftsman. Scottsdale Art Factory is able to maintain a consistent staff of the finest blacksmiths, woodcarvers,stone smiths, wood-rights and the many other tradesman necessary to build investment quality products. Without compromising the true sprite of the American Arts and Crafts movement each product is built by hand with attention to detail in the age old tradition(no paste boards, plywoods, or faux materials). No matter your if need is a custom door, lighting chandelier, furnishing, or piece of hardware it is guaranteed to stand the test of time . Recommended reading Darrell Peart's book on Greene & Greene

Your Home Should Create Memories.

Memory is such an interesting tool. We can, given the right stimulus, recall with clarity a moment in time, long past. There are times, when moving through a crowd when I catch a scent and will be catapulted back in time to my Grandmother’s house on Clear Lake on a Saturday morning. Sometimes it’s just a simple smell, like fresh berries,cut grass or fried fish that brings back vivid memories of my childhood. 

At Grandma's house we would begin our day by looking out at the lake and consider the possibilities. My Mother and Uncles would all be getting ready to water ski, fish or pick black berries. Sometimes all I have to do is look at Grandma's old hand carved cedar chest where she kept, what she called, the most important things. 

One of my most vivid memories was when Grandma decided she needed a new front door. The entrance to her home was always unremarkable so we all chimed in and encouraged her to get something unique. Then the question, "what would make it special?" We began on-line and stumbled upon a wonderful website artfactory.com. We then chose a style that reflected the ambiance of the lake home and its surroundings. With all the possibilities they offered we then all agreed that it should reflect our lifestyle and the things we all enjoyed doing while we were together. We got out a lot of our old photos of fishing, the woods and all the moments we loved when Grandpa and Grandma were together. 

We were excited to work with Scottsdale Art Factory because of their reputation and their ability to use our family photographs in the hand carvings on the door. Grandma was so pleased with her new custom door! The rest is history (see the photo included of our door of memories). 
It has been several years and Grandma is no longer with us but every time we get together at the lake house warm memories overwhelm me. 

It has been said that all we ever really have in life is our memories. If that is the case then I suggest we make memories that last. I once heard that it’s better to be looked over than overlooked and in the context of making lasting memories I believe this to be true. Why go through life in beige if chartreuse will linger in the memory? Why opt for basic black if tangerine will seal the moment? Why be boring if bold will cause you to stand out and be noticed?

As with all theories, there are exceptions; however, when it comes to our homes, making a lasting first impression is a must.

Speaking of lists, have you been adding to yours? Last week we were standing on the threshold of your home trying to assess what small projects we could undertake that would make your home a bit more beautiful. What did you accomplish in this regard? How did you make your home more beautiful? 

Please write and let me know how you’ve improved on the impression your home makes on others and how it will be remembered.

For ideas and actions I suggest an American manufacturer with a long reputation of being able to create hand carved doors, handmade lighting, and top quality furnishings of all styles. This company has many designers that make interior decorating a no-brainer and at prices most can afford. Visit Art Factory to see examples.

How To Do Your Own Home Inspection

Let’s take a walk through your home and see if there may be an item or two worth changing in favor of something more beautiful. At the end of the day that's what we all want for our homes. We want to provide a beautiful environment for our family and friends to enjoy their time while under our roof.

Beauty in the home does not just happen, it takes great effort to create specific beauty throughout your home. Honestly,few of us are gifted with an eye for scale, proportion and balance as to guarantee effortless decorating and a lovely home. Most of us work diligently, reading, researching and asking questions. We are always searching for he next idea that will make our home more appealing.

Let’s begin at the beginning. Walk out your front door and as you do switch hats. Become a guest seeing your home for the first time. Approach the door with new eyes what do you see? How does what you see make you feel? What can you do today to improve the view and the experience? It was Theodore Roosevelt who said, “Do what you can…with what you have…where you are.”

This is my suggestion for you today. On a note pad, jot down two small projects that will enhance the experience of approaching your front door. They may be as basic as sweeping the porch, touching up the paint or putting up the new house numbers that have been collecting dust in the trunk of your car.

The point is to do something! Set goals for yourself that you are sure to achieve and then proceed. You will feel great and take the first step towards creating a more beautiful home.

If you feel you could use a little help, let me recommend a wonderful custom manufacture that offers free interior or exterior design help.Scottsdale Art Factory H.J.Nick is a world class artist, designer with credits extended to interior designing some of the worlds finest homes. H.J.Nick's design team will provide design ideas at no cost to you. Simply order your items to be built by Scottsdale Art Factory. This company has been designing and manufacturing furniture, doors, gates, lighting and hardware for some of the worlds finest interior designers for over nine decades. All handmade in America to family heirloom investment quality standards at what I find to be very reasonable prices.

Become A High End Interior Designer

Scottsdale Art Factory promotes and contributes to the education of new persons interested in interior design. We also promote the further education of currant interior designers.

American handmade furniture and the art of master wood workers, master craftsman, master blacksmiths, and what their skills contribute to architecture and engineering elements that make top designers excel. Regarding such design elements as grand entrance doors, hand carved windows and doors, interior furnishings,iron elements, stair railing, fencing, door hardware,chandeliers and other structural and decorator design elements of American and the worlds architecture.

The tradition of fine art, master craftsmanship and design will live on for future generations to enjoy. These master craftsman and their skills provide the very elements of design that make the difference in how designer's are regarded by their clients. This difference translates to the clients perception as to what level of design services you are capable of providing.

The basic stock and trade of a interior designer is perception of quality and the ability to know the difference. Scottsdale Art Factory feels the better educated each designer becomes the better suited he or she is in genuinely providing each client with the environment of their dreams.

Scottsdale Art Factory feels that it is of utmost importance that each interior designer should be informed in the difference between genuine materials such as: stone, marble, granite, master hand crafted solid wood furnishings, hand forged and master crafted iron gates, fencing, stair rails,chandeliers, lighting, hardware, fine leathers, and fabrics and the many other materials that make up fine quality design.

Contrasting with the fake, faux materials, and mass produced furnishings, doors, lighting and wrought iron products of inferior quality mostly from cheap labor force countries flooding the marketplace as of this publication 2007.

Every high end designer must understand investment quality verses production grade furnishings that are build with intended obsolescence. ( future yard sale items). It is also important the each interior designer should understand that hand made high quality design elements are cost effective as well as a good investment. Further design elements and furnishings handmade in America to world antiquity standards allows each client not only a return on investment but through family heirlooms enriches life style and family memories and cohesiveness. Most mass produced products as described above will not yield a return on investment and will never become family heirlooms or valuable antiques, thus resulting in great lose to your client. Not only will your client loose investment value the greater loss is the family heirlooms and the memories associated with these design elements. 
It is Imperative these design elements such as furniture, doors, lighting, and hardware stand the test of time.

See details on how to become a world class interior designer

Cedar Door Built By Viking Craftsman cir 1185

This church entrance for Stillingfleet Church in Yorkshire dates from 1185. The solid wood door is famous for its Viking ironwork and representations of a viking ship and other signs meant to act as charms. The exterior door is 4" thick solid cedar and is "still" being used today.

Scottsdale Art Factory builds entrance doors today in the very same way they did in the 12th. century. We harvest from the North wood's tall stands of Northern cedar. We air dry all of our timber naturally on the dessert floor for a year or more prior to the final milling of your exterior or interior door project. Once you have placed your order, we mill again to final dimensions required by your custom door order. After this final milling we let it cure dry again. This is to insure that when we join and press these solid wood planks together they never warp, bow or split after the door has been joined together to make a solid wood door slab or blade.

Most materials used today are fast kiln dried. This is performed by force drying the material to a percentage of humidity level then joining. The rest of the drying time occurs after the product is delivered to your home. Usually warping and bowing and always shrinking all in the name of production speed and profit.

We at Scottsdale Art Factory (also known as scottsdaledoorfactory.com) do not rush anything we produce in the name of profit. We have the attitude that our reputation is on the line with each product produced so we simply build the old fashioned way, much like this door that was built in the 12Th century. By using the finest materials, the best master craftsman, along with methods and technology not much different from when the Vikings built this entrance door has stood in working order for some 800 or so years. Proving as we always say, "if you build it right with pride of craftsmanship it will never need a warranty and will stand the test of time."

We at Scottsdale Art Factory "guarantee all of our products forever"no questions asked. All backed by our over nine decades of fine craftsmanship. We also have on staff some of the worlds best blacksmiths. Using these same techniques as the Vikings did on this door hardware. We still hand make fine hardware in any style. All finishes are patinas not faux or paint. See hundreds of door examples and our blacksmiths at work using hammer,anvil and forge at http://www.artfactory.com/prodIndex.aspx?category=2 all built to these specifications.

Moroccan Entrance Door History

Morocco wooden doors, Moorish double doors, wood Morocco gateways and Moorish carved doors! Moroccan doors are the best sign that a Moroccan house is about. Moroccans say a beautiful house is known by its beautiful door. We offer a wide range of Moroccan style doors, an unique art of Moroccan living, which makes it possible to recreate the warmth of hospitality and the cultural elegance of Mediterranean design right for your own home or office!

Scottsdale Art Factory: Offers Anglo Indian style doors with large bases in unique original design. Indian carving with European influence. Antique style door from the once French enclave in India, Pandacheri. Perfect for wine cellar or to give character to any house. Fine flower carvings on frame sides and over and under lintel. South India. Gujarat temple style doors, carved in solid cedar, inset with iron or copper plaques are avaliable. We can make you a pair of doors with massive carved frame ideal for your wine cellar. Spectacularly deep carved framed door. You may order huge hand forged iron hinges. Install these on your guest house and "Shahrazad" will come.

Berbers The early Berbers were unmoved by the colonizing Phoenicians, and even the Romans did little to upset the Berber way of life after the sack of Carthage in 146 BC. All the same, the Romans ushered in a long period of peace during which many cities were founded, and the Berbers of the coastal plains became city dwellers. Christianity turned up in the 3rd century AD, and again the Berbers asserted their traditional dislike of centralized authority by following Donatus (a Christian sect leader who claimed that the Donatists alone constituted the true church).

Morocco officially Kingdom of Morocco, Arabic Al-Maghrib, or Al-Mamlakah al-MaghribYyah country of northwestern North Africa that lies directly across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. It borders Algeria to the east and southeast, Western Sahara to the south, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. It is the only African country with coastal exposure to both the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. With the Western Sahara's 97,344 square miles (252,120 square km), Morocco occupies a total area of 274,461 square miles (710,850 square km). Casablanca is the largest city, primary seaport, and commercial and industrial hub. Rabat is the capital and the country's second largest city.

Because of its lack of natural harbors, its rugged mountainous interior, and its distance throughout its history from imperial centers in the east, Morocco remained relatively free from foreign invasion until the early 20th century. This enabled it to preserve a proud traditional character, which is a rich blend of Berber, Arab-Islamic, Iberian, and African cultural influences. Those traits were joined by an infusion of European cultural elements during the colonial period (1912–56) when Morocco was a protectorate of both France and Spain.

Brief History:

Unlike other North African nations, Morocco has been largely occupied by one group of people for as long as recorded history can recall. The Berbers, or Imazighen (men of the land), settled in the area thousands of years ago and at one time controlled all of the land between Morocco and Egypt. Divided into clans and tribes, they have always jealously guarded their independence. It's this fierce spirit that has helped preserve one of Africa's most fascinating cultures.

Hand Made Custom Hardware Can Make A Difference

A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from iron or steel by "forging" the metal; i.e., by using hand tools to hammer, bend, cut, and otherwise shape it in its non-liquid form. Usually the metal is heated until it glows red or orange as part of the forging process. Blacksmiths create such products as wrought iron gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils, and weapons. A skilled blacksmith can, with minimal effort, make a sophisticated product that looks good and demonstrates ingenuity.

A blacksmith who works primarily with horses, especially making and fitting horseshoes, is called a farrier. 

Prior to the industrial revolution, a "village smithy" was a staple of every town. Mass production techniques have reduced the marketplace for blacksmith work except in Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and South America where large numbers of artisans continue to do traditional work. In more industrialized regions, an increasing demand for custom metalwork has given rise to a new breed of smiths commonly known as Artist-Blacksmiths.

In recent years the forging of stainless steel has given rise to a fresh approach to architectural blacksmithing.

Hephaestus (Latin: Vulcan) was the blacksmith of the gods in Greek and Roman mythology. A supremely skilled artisan whose forge was a volcano, he constructed most of the weapons of the gods, and was himself the god of fire and metalworking.

In America the largest producer of products made in this age old tradition is Scottsdale Art Factory. Scottsdale Art Factory offers a apprentice program that offers to train individuals in the age old art of true blacksmithing. Scottsdale Art Factory has been producing products such as iron gates, furniture, door hardware, custom lighting and much more for over nine decades in the United States of America. They can also trace their roots to Italy were the founding of their company began.