In 1988, Raymond Mathis was toiling away as a professional farrier, traveling from farm to farm to trim and balance the hooves of horses and place shoes on their feet. Little did he know that the tools in the back of his pickup truck would inspire another career altogether.
During down time, Mathis experimented with the fire and metal on hand used to fabricate and adjust horseshoes, watching the shape of a seemingly immovable material bend and twist in response to heat. “That really opened up Pandora’s box,” Mathis remembers. “I started looking at metal differently. It’s endless what you can do with it.”
With his interest piqued, Mathis soon began spending his non-working hours in a blacksmithing shop in Point Pleasant, creating original designs using centuries-old techniques of fabrication, forging and hammering. Or, in layman’s terms, welding materials together, manipulating metal and customizing its shape.
And while his foray into blacksmithing may have seemed a bit anachronistic at the time, his efforts have unquestionably paid off in the form of a full-time career at the helm of the highly regarded Tutto Metal Design in Doylestown. Working mainly on commission, Mathis takes requests from private clients, interior designers, architects, landscapers and public art committees. Out of steel, copper, bronze, stainless steel, stone and hand-blown glass, he fashions gates, railings, signs, beds, tables, lighting and hardware. His creations can be seen in the arches of Freedom Square on Pine Street, the Trenton State Museum and in numerous private residences across the county.
Mathis’ process can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of months. He meets with clients to discover their needs and inspirations, sketches his concepts on paper and finally arrives at his favorite part: forging.
“Once you heat metal up, it turns and bends,” Mathis enthuses, “and what you can do is amazing.” And even after the fireworks, there’s still a show to be had. “When it’s cool, the metal is solid, but it’s got movement,” he adds. “You’ve got this fluidness.”
Although he takes direction from clients, Mathis also infuses his own self-taught artistic sensibilities. “Everything you deal with on a day-to-day basis should be artistic whether it’s a doorknob or a light,” he says. “I’m using the traditional techniques of blacksmithing but trying to infuse a more contemporary feel.”
His typically full slate of commission-based projects often left him little time to pursue his own projects, but now that seems to be changing. At his drawing table, Mathis is free to explore and come up with his own ideas, free of the usual client-imposed constraints. “I use the same elements, ideals and processes as my more utilitarian work, but it gives me another avenue to present my work,” he says.
This September, Mathis will present his fine art sculpture in his first show at the Riverrun Gallery in Lambertville. In preparation for the show, Mathis has been studiously expanding his repertoire, recently embarking upon a line of jewelry pieces including necklaces, belt buckles and brooches.
As he balances his commissioned work and personal expression, Mathis is also looking toward the future, hoping to buy his own unique blend of function meeting form even more credibility in the public eye. “I’d really like to put together a show of contemporary blacksmiths in the area,” he says.
In the meantime, he enjoys schooling visitors on the basics of blacksmithing inside his Doylestown studio. “People look at it like this lost art,” he says. “I get them in here, they bend some metal, get it hot and work it in front of the fire. It opens their eyes to the world a little bit differently.”
Go online at www.tuttometaldesign.com