David M. Bowman

David M Bowman Studio consists of two people: David Mills Bowman and his son, Reed Christopher Bowman.

We produce most pieces together. Most designs are David’s, though Reed has input on many of David’s wall pieces. The table designs are Reed’s, and Reed has his own set of wall pieces with his initials, RCB, prefixed to the wall piece numbers, and his own set of vase, candlestick, and menorah designs.

We construct all pieces by hand, with hand tools and simple machines. No part of the production is ever hired out, nor does the studio take in work to produce or patina parts for other people’s designs. Wall pieces are one of a kind.

All the work is produced from brass and copper sheet and rod, formed into shape with shears, hammers, sanders and grinders, and brazed together using an oxyacetylene welding torch. We do not cast work or use cast parts. We mix patina chemicals from scratch and apply them by hand.

David began working in metal in 1971, near the time Reed was born; he first made silver jewelry, later moved on to brass belt buckles, then to larger pieces in patinaed brass. Over the years David has worked alone or with different assistants, but he has worked exclusively with Reed since the mid-1990s.

Apart from small local art evenings and farmers markets, we generally show in person only twice a year, at the American Craft Council’s Baltimore Winter Market in February and their San Francisco Craft Show in August. Our work is sold primarily through craft shops and galleries across the country and overseas. Wall pieces are sold or consigned to galleries, or designed on commission for corporate and private spaces. After 25 years in a WWII-era warehouse in West Berkeley and a sojourn at American Steel Studios in West Oakland, we have finally built a new space (with our own hands) behind our houses back in West Berkeley.