Primo Artisan | About Primo

About Primo

Born and raised in Mexico it was there that I was first introduced to the art of metal and iron at the age of 12. At the time, my mother was working for a family who owned a traditional blacksmithing shop in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. I was so fascinated with the work that was being created by hand, that I begged my mother to talk to her employer about giving me a chance to work in the shop. He agreed that I could do the daily clean up after school. For the next two years I swept the floors and ran all kinds of errands but I also watched and learned. By the age of 14 I started my apprenticeship along side the owner and his sons. They shared their extensive skills and experience in bending metal and iron by hand while it's cold to create their ornamental knights, ships, roman shields, swords, chandeliers, and furniture. By the time I turned 16 I had already learned how to make my own jigs, make my own layouts and cutouts from sheet metal, and I had even mastered welding. The skills and techniques I learned from these genuine artisans are invaluable to me today.

After spending my teen years growing up in a shop, my family came to Washington State in 1980. I spent many years working as a farm laborer in the fields. I also worked for the forest service as a tree planter and in later years as a private contractor doing forestry work - planting, thinning, cutting trees, etc. During this time, I yearned to create my childhood dream - a 24 Foot Knight in Shining Armour. I contacted my former boss and teacher about it and in the winter of 1990 I returned to his shop in Mexico and made my dream come true. I built a special rack on top of my Nissan pickup and I drove my knight back home to Washington. Today the knight stands tall in front of a hotel in the tourist town of Leavenworth, WA that is well known for its Bavarian Village theme.

In 1997 I started my journey back to my true calling. For the next three years I worked as a production welder and material handler for local sheet metal shops. Clearly there was no specialty or artisan creativity to what I was doing but I learned other skills, got a chance to brush up on my welding, and without even knowing it made business contacts that I would need in the future.

One day a man who had been my foreman when I was working as a farm laborer approached me about making garden planters for his nursery. He said if you can make a 24-Foot Knight then you can most certainly make wire trellises and hanging baskets. Later this same year someone, who is still a client of mine today, approached me about making a residential sliding gate. He had been referred to me by a gal who knew of my work with the knight and my recent garden nursery items. This was my first real big project and at the time I had no shop. It was a very cold winter that year as I worked on my patio to construct the gate but I was determined to make it happen. When I was done I knew it was time for me to completely venture out on my own. In 2001 I had a shop built behind my home and I officially opened up for business.

Most of my business comes from word of mouth. My clients know that I have a passion for what I do because it's in my heart and it shows in the quality of work I deliver to them. They also appreciate the fact that they can call me anytime, day or night, regarding their project because I work long days and love what I do for a living. I enjoy working with all of my customers and their usual and unusual requests. I really believe there is no limit to what a man can make with his own two hands.