Robert Diaz de Leon

I have always had a drive to create, to make beautiful things where none existed before.  I spent the first part of my professional career in the construction industry. I have built just about any kind of building.  I built apartments, shopping centers, movie theaters, restaurants, department stores and high-rise buildings. I have done historic restoration and built state of the art high tech labs. I have built jails and I have built parks.  For the last thirty some years I have been making highly detailed, design intensive, decorative functional pieces that are custom made to fulfill the aesthetic vision. My work is principally made of metal. I am drawn to traditional metalworking.  I am a blacksmith and my early work was very traditional decorative forging work. As the years progressed I added all types of metalworking. Today the work utilizes time honored techniques and state of the art technology.  I am motivated by complex technical challenges. All of my work shows a trace of the hand and has a ‘made’ kind of quality. I believe that the work of the craftsman is crucial for the project to be successful. I believe that objects are richer when they tell the story of how they were made and express the unique nature and characteristics of their materials.  Too often people settle for the mass produced, cost efficient solution that leaves the final product lacking soul and feeling generic.

I have made everything imaginable.  I have made monumental pieces and jewelry scale work, I have done work for some of the wealthiest people on the planet and I have made a project for the international space station. Making is what drives me. Problem solving is my reward. Making dreams into reality for my clients and friends is where my joy lives.

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