Classic Metal Art’s focus is firmly set on quality, from the artist’s design through to the mastery of finer details in producing high-end metal products for home, corporate or hospitality settings. The company was co-founded in the spring of 2006 by Wayne Frisch and Barbara Doyle, the Calgary husband-and-wife team whose artistic and technical expertise is renown in the design industry.

Doyle brings her experience as an accomplished furniture designer, and Frisch, long involved in the city’s art and design scene, adds his extensive knowledge of period design as well as his skill in the rare art of metal casting. “Out of the depths of a dungeon in Southeast Calgary come these beautiful pieces of art,” says Frisch of the metal casting studio where he transforms metal into art for clients across Western Canada.

With an artist’s touch, and selecting from the best quality steel, bronze, aluminum, or even silver and gold, Classic Metal Art designs and produces a wide variety of products – from lettering and door knockers to furniture ranging from period reproductions to the very modern – that add a touch of quality craftsmanship to any setting.

“Sometimes a little accent of steel or metal can make the difference in a space,” Frisch points out. This was the case for the set of French Modern door-pulls cast in white bronze commissioned by the McKinley Dang Burkart Design Group. The custom-design door-pulls are a stately complement to the macassar ebony wood doors that open onto a private executive office.

In building a railing for a staircase leading to a ballroom floor in a private home, Frisch and Doyle were inspired by the Art Nouveau style of European artists of the late 19th century, which led to their interpretation of a Victor Horta staircase. The polished steel railing’s fluid lines produce a theatrical flair and a closer look reveals bronze detailing among the individual rails.

While metal art makes a statement indoors, it can also speak volumes - and survive the elements - outside. Antique finish bronze spouts crafted in the French Empire style are just what’s needed to subtly dress up the unadorned holes in a stone fountain wall.  NL