Stones are where it all started for Taproot. Keith had been laying stone pathways for a client who wanted her collection of beach rocks incorporated into the paths. When she asked him for a trellis, Keith reflected on what he felt was missing in so much of the ornamental metal work he'd seen in the past: Row upon row of vertical rods that lead the eye up and out of the landscape they guard. Coming from a contemporary art background, that didn't work for Keith. He looks at his clients' yards as compositions. He wouldn't draw a line off the page, as it would lead the viewer's eye away from the piece; he wasn't going to design a trellis without something to lead the visitor's eye back to the garden.
That first trellis design is still the foundation of what has become our extensive standard product line. 40.5" wide and 84" tall, the five vertical rods of 1/2" hot-rolled round mild steel are crossed with four horizontals and each topped with a nondescript gray stone wrapped in steel on four sides. The stones provide a tranquil resting place for the viewer's eye, and the steel rods in which they're wrapped guide one's gaze back to the plantings. That first client was so taken with the trellis that she asked him for several more, and made it a fence. In the intervening years, Keith has added a bracketed option, so that the panels can be mounted onto 4x4 posts, as well as additional vertical or horizontal rods for clients who wish to tighten the weave.
We recently found ourselves running low on stones, and took Tuesday to drive out to the coast. Keith uses four basic sizes, each for different purposes and products. For example, the arbors require several stones all about the same small size; a 40.5" wide trellis/fence panel requires three sizes, as they tier up from sides to center. The sizes are so specific that there is even a laminated sheet with the traced ideal circumference of each to reference. In addition to canvas bags for the stones, we brought several plastic bags for trash. Trash pickup is the post-collection quid pro quo that Keith settled on years ago. Combing the cove this particular trip, we were pleased to find it fairly clean. Apart from a shoe, a length of twine, three plastic bottles and a few scraps, there wasn't much to scavenge.
Want to learn more? Our web site provides additional information about our entire line of fence and trellis panels, with PDF catalogs detailing the available finial combinations - including the stones we collected this week.
http://www.taprootworks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=5
No comments:
Post a Comment