Westchester Cottages and Gardens Feature Story on Metal Artisan, by Nancy Angiello

1. Westchester Cottages & Gardens - March 2008 - Steeling Beauty http://www.wcandg.com/mar08/local.php
March 2008 New &
Noteworthy
Eva's Design
LOCAL CUSTOM
Steeling Beauty
By Nancy Angiello Dixon Lane Antiques
Photographs by Neil Landino Jr.
SHEARING, PUNCHING, BENDING AND
WELDING METALS IN PURSUIT OF ART
"Aah, the industrial life!" is
Philip Gorrivan
Buddha Dreams metal artisan Cliff Startup's
Come to the Casbah welcome to his cavernous
Pound Ridge work space,
Young Turks
where welding torches flare RP Scully Furniture
A Perfect Setting
and whistle. His nose and
The Brit Pack
hands are blackened from
Doing the Continental one project, a handcrafted
iron railing for a Chappaqua home. A
Houlihan Lawrence
Local Custom brawny man (his black belt in martial arts
comes in handy as he manipulates a huge
Cocktail Hour
sheet of steel in a 14,000-pound iron
Antiques
shear) with a wild mop of white hair,
Jewelry
Startup has the look of the village Briggs House
Kitchen & Bath IQ blacksmith. His handiwork graces homes
Deeds & Don'ts and commercial spaces of the area's most
Net Worth discerning clientele: exquisite lacy gates
Design Driven for local estates, fixtures for Calvin Klein Cornell Carpet
and Oscar de la Renta, and tables for
Tommy Hilfiger, to name just a few.
Editor's Letter
Out of the Box Startup's workshop is lined with huge
Fabric
sheets of steel, copper, brass, aluminum Ginnel Real Estate
and iron destined for new lives as
Verdant Living
architectural details (panels, railings,
Materialism
doors, range hoods, furniture) and original
Travel for Design garden structures and ornaments (gazebos,
Calendar fountains, benches). He's particularly J McLaughlin
Parties renowned for his sensitive restoration of
Meet the Designer antique garden pieces, such as the
mid-19th-century stag sculpture he Kenneth Nadler
refurbished for Barbara Israel, the
Katonah-based antique garden ornaments
dealer who has worked with Startup for 18
years. "I haven't found anyone else who
does half the quality of work that he does,"
says Israel.
Blacksmithing runs in Startup's veins. His
2 of 3 3/18/2008 12:21 PM

2. Westchester Cottages & Gardens - March 2008 - Steeling Beauty http://www.wcandg.com/mar08/local.php
great-grandfather plied his trade for
German royalty. His grandfather made
ploughshares and horseshoes on the
prairie. Yet Startup is mostly self-taught.
His father, a pilot, dreamed they would
have a machine shop together one day. But
he died in a plane crash when Startup was
just 11, leaving his son to pursue that
dream on his own. "I had this tremendous
desire to fix things that we couldn't
replace," explains Startup. "I became
consumed with fixing and equipment."
Read more >
©2008 Cottages & Gardens Publications,
LLC
Website by Castle Builder Design
3 of 3 3/18/2008 12:21 PM

3. Westchester Cottages & Gardens - March 2008 - Steeling Beauty (Page 2) http://www.wcandg.com/mar08/local2.php
March 2008 New &
Noteworthy
Eva's Design
LOCAL CUSTOM
Steeling Beauty
Dixon Lane Antiques
(Page 2 of 2)
He worked in iron shops in New York city
for a while. But Startup's interests in Zen
are what led him to Westchester when he
Philip Gorrivan
helped build a Buddhist monastery in
Buddha Dreams
Pound Ridge. There, he learned the
Come to the Casbah
discipline and concentration that he applies
Young Turks
to his craft today. He started small in the
RP Scully Furniture
A Perfect Setting early 1980s ("I had a toolbox, that's it"),
The Brit Pack going door-to-door to antique shops
Doing the Continental offering repair work, eventually earning his
big break in 1997 with a million-dollar
Houlihan Lawrence
commission on Long Island.
Local Custom
Cocktail Hour Startup's creative energy is as palpable as
Antiques the noise, black soot and fine dust that fill
the air here. At work on a previously
Jewelry
sloppily-restored wood nymph statue, he Briggs House
Kitchen & Bath IQ
says: "If something was put together
Deeds & Don'ts
wrong, I can tell immediately. If you are
Net Worth really observant you can see how it should
Design Driven Cornell Carpet
have been. I like making it right, bringing
back quality. When I have a chance to
Editor's Letter make something beautiful..." Then he drifts
off, replaces his goggles, and gets back to
Out of the Box
work. Ginnel Real Estate
Fabric
Verdant Living For more information: (914) 764-5985 or
Materialism www.startupsteel.com.
Travel for Design < Previous Page
Calendar J McLaughlin
Parties
Meet the Designer
Kenneth Nadler
©2008 Cottages & Gardens Publications,
LLC
Website by Castle Builder Design
2 of 2 3/18/2008 12:29 PM