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Reed C Bowman bio - January 2019

I have worked for my father, David M Bowman, on his brass designs since I was four years old. After graduating in History from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993, I have worked at the studio full time, except for a year I took off to take a Master's Degree in Medieval Studies at the University of York in England.

My design sense in metal and love of working with my hands started from working on my father's designs, but also derives from my study in the worlds of medieval archeology, art, and architecture, calligraphy, book arts (medieval and modern), and graphic and typographic design.

My study of historical books and objects has informed my own designs, though our medium has pushed me into a more modern mode. The only direct influence of medieval design can be seen in my occasional use of my own original Celtic or Islamic style knotwork designs in a few of the wallpieces and tables.

I have learned most by executing, often from start to finish, my father's designs, and expanding, improving, and extending the techniques he devised. Beyond this, however, many of my designs arise from realization of possibilities of engineering or construction that David has not pursued, or as experiments to see what can be achieved.

In this way I both extended the wallpiece box-construction technique to make it free-standing and sturdy enough to make tables, but also got away from boxes in my newer wallpieces, and started using overlapping plates and freer shapes to enable a whole new range of compositions. I try to avoid designs that I find too similar to his style or established patterns, and to take our techniques and practice in new directions.