James Banks
James Banks Design creations’ manifest through the conversations and envisions of Heidi Nahser Fink and Adam Shulman.
Through initial discussion, pieces are dreamt of, invented, designed and then methodically brought to life.
The pieces are handmade in their Northern California studio in beautiful Marin County.
They employ old-world techniques using such tools as hammers and stakes for forming, saws for piercing, rolling mill and drawplates for baking sheet and wire, propane/oxygen torch for soldering.
The creations, which can include such metals as various karat golds, platinum, palladium, silver, copper, bronze, nickel, shibuichi, and shakudo, are all hand finished using a hand burring technique we developed to give the final finish a rich handcrafted look.
They also have developed their own special inlay process with the butterflies in particular where a frame is created and almost like a puzzle, various metals are carefully set into negative spaces to create our unique butterflies. They then experiment with various patinas with the butterflies to bring the multi-metal inlay to life.