The Lariat series is based on an original form, the JG Bend; a knuckle-like form in which round bar is forged back onto it self before it proceeds in the new direction. JG Bend occurred at the forge twelve years after starting with blacksmithing. The designs include: benches, bike stand, litter stand, lot line fence and gateway, bollard, double entrance doors, street light, bollard ties, skateboard deterrent, tree guard, and emergency access gates for pedestrian zones. Each fixture received status as a Permanent Work of Art by New York Arts Commission; this involved multiple layers of regulatory compliance from agencies in NYC: Landmarks, DOT, Dept of Sanitation, Fire Department, MTA Engineering, and the local Community Board. The designs were installed at three parks in New York. Within ten years, half of these were displaced. Highly motivated newcomers would lobby with the succeeding administration for a place in Manhattan to realize their career. It became apparent, the most significant criteria for longevity is, “administrative disfavor”.
Lariat Street Furniture designs were conceived and realizedwith longevity that exceed the standards of industrial design. On a city block, the deliveries, carting and construction are routine, and anything on the sidewalk that cannot move on its own will get bumped, leaned upon, or used as a chain post. I imagine severe mishaps and work to realize fixtures that can survive in the range of 75 years plus. I have an advantage because I came to understand that it is necessary to unlearn fabricator mentality and realize a vocabulary with forging. The design approach is simple; the materials being used are solid. A blemish can be sanded down and the surface can be renewed. The soft corners of the JG bends are much friendlier to shin bones and fine clothing than the chipped corner of a cast planter. Armatures are made with solid bar stock, no tubing that tends to rust out from the inside. Gravity is used to perform the ‘return action’ in the Urban Monks Gate Latch; in order to simplify the components, a single pivot is designed with three-inch diameter solid stainless steel pin. There are no hinges to lubricate. There is no need to replace moving parts. The mass is a deterrent to impulsive theft. The structural integrity makes them immune to abuse or vandalism.
Hand made design is rare because it is labor-intensive; however, this economic paradigm is losing ground. There is growing recognition that community wisdom is improved as the ‘bottom line’ is displaced by the ‘quality of attention’ that is used to make things that we bring into our neighborhood. Since the Bauhaus, mass production has been the prevalent way to make public fixtures. There are remnants throughout the five boroughs: minimalism, post-modernism, ‘disneyism’, and more. On the sidewalk, a mundane mind is clever; it seeks affinity with human sentiment. If we compare the fabricated stainless steel public fixture to an object made by a living national treasure, the handmade article produces a physiological bonding because it has been realized in accordance to a profound understanding of human presence.
Residents have voiced a heart-felt appreciation for James Garvey designs in numerous articles; this precedent to bring handcrafted public fixtures into our streetscape has evolved for thirty years. In order to realize wide spread implementation of this approach, a commercial approach will not work. Civic administrations support local representation such as locally sourced food markets, B.I D services, and respect for ethnic cultural events. It could be possible to assemble an artisan work force by offering each individual a high value intangible such as, an interesting alternative to dull leisure activity. There is an abundance of idle attention within present day routine: high school youth after school, college students on summer break. Several retirees, boomers, have been continuous members in the James Garvey forging class. They welcome the experience; for three hours each week at an open-hearth forge doing two and three-man hand forging; they are tapering, splitting, upsetting, and drifting holes through bars as large as 3’ X 3’ solid steel. These fellows have been paying a fee to do this for more than three years. I imagine members of any neighborhood who would displace three hours of leisure entertainment time to be on a crew of artisans led by a master blacksmith making hand forged Lariat Litter stands at an outdoor forge facility. It could be possible to assemble an artisan work force by redirecting the attention of students, retirees, and possibly detainees.
The expertise of a qualified artisan has evolved with tens of thousands of hours of practice; the articles are cultured the way an oyster creates a pearl. It is not possible to get pearls from a duck or a hen. It must be an oyster. Only an artisan can realize an aesthetic impression that will reach fellow human intellects the same way this is done by a chef, or a musician. By creating uncompromised works under the direction of a master artisan, there will be a mutual benefit. Participants gain personal satisfaction well beyond entertainment. And, by their efforts, jewels are being sewn into the fabric of our cityscape.
Several of the photos in this Gallery are taken by the talented photographer Fred Gilbert
