FLORENCE — Sam Ostroff is making the rounds inside the spacious workshop of Salmon Studios one recent morning, so forgive him if this takes awhile. There’s a lot going on.

In one area of the company’s 17,000-square-foot studio inside a former assembly bay, called the Norwood Engineering Co., workers cut sheets of metal using computer-programmed machines.

Near the studio’s entrance, workers are building a large, black bookshelf made of aluminum. And in yet another area, a worker uses a roller to give a metal project an aged, rustic look.

There can be up to 20 projects underway at the same time, some of which will leave the Valley and end up in New York, California and Europe. Others will stay closer to the shop’s 28 North Maple St. home.

It’s all part of Ostroff’s rapidly growing 20-year-old business, which specializes in creating intricate metalwork, including sculpture, furniture, staircases and railings, and commercial signs that are visible at several area businesses.

The company has grown so fast in recent years that it now employs 15 full-time employees and has seen revenues triple since 2013, according to Ostroff.

“Our business has evolved over the years,” said Ostroff in his office on a recent morning. Locally, Salmon Studios has a visible presence with public art installations and signs for commercial businesses.

Public artwork created by Ostroff’s studio can be found on the bridge for the bike path on Main Street in Northampton. The bridge is furnished with large stainless steel depictions of cyclists, pedestrians, a hot air balloon and a train.

Signage made by Ostroff’s studio can also be found over the entrances to Fly by Night and Lucky’s Tattoo in Northampton and on the side of the Eastworks mill building in Easthampton.

The studio is also responsible for one of Northampton’s “gateway signs.” On the corner of Bridge and Parsons streets, a metal rendering of Northampton’s skyline depicting a silhouette of a barn, City Hall, First Churches and Northampton’s agricultural heritage was installed in 2015.

Home installations flourish

Even as the company continues to work on public art projects, Ostroff says an increasing part of its business is dedicated to private home installations.

In the past four years, the studio has shifted toward building high-end residential work in New York City, Ostroff said. Ten years ago, Ostroff estimates that about 10 percent of its work ended up in the city.

“Now, I would say it’s about 90 percent of what we are doing,” he said. At any given time, Ostroff says that Salmon Studios could have up to a dozen different projects “ranging from small pieces of trim to entire apartments worth of metal.”

Projects in residential homes could entail building a bookshelf, laying bronze trim for a bathroom, or installing large bronze metal doors, Ostroff said.

Part of the challenge, he says, is the distance to the Big Apple versus his shop’s New York-based competition. Salmon Studios has attempted to address this problem by having frequent online screen-sharing meetings with clients and by traveling to the city often, Ostroff says.

“We can’t let our geographic location be a problem,” he said.

In the past, the shop would build a project for a New York apartment and someone else would install it. Now, a crew of typically three rents an Airbnb in New York and installs the project themselves.

Kel Komeda, a resident of Cummington and project manager for Salmon Studios, said crews will typically spend about a week and a half in New York City over the course of a month.

Since much of this work is for residential apartments, workers never see their installations again once their job is done. It also means that there are confidentiality agreements preventing workers from speaking too specifically about certain projects.

All Komeda could say is one of their most eyebrow-raising projects was a 24-karat gold plated bathroom that included two vanities, a medicine cabinet, and a shower enclosure.

“We have this problem with being able to publish photographs of work that we do. We see it and nobody else will.”

“The work we are doing is not only unique to this particular geographical region, but it’s unique to people who are fabricating custom work,” they said. “It’s really the highest end work that’s out there.”

Ostroff said projects can cost anywhere between $10,000 to $1.5 million.

From learning to weld in his parents’ basement during high school to owning a much sought-after business with a growing footprint beyond the Valley, Ostroff says, “I didn’t start out with the idea this was going to happen ... I just wanted to open a shop.”

In 1998, Ostroff’s studio began at 1 Ferry St. in Easthampton before moving to the Arts & Industry Building in Florence in 2002.

Ostroff made the “Sonata 1” piano in 2001 when he was in his Easthampton studio with a hammer, a hacksaw, blow torch and a screwdriver, he said. Now, his workshop has three C.N.C. machines (programmed by computers for metal work) and large forming machines, among other large mechanical equipment.

During his 12 years at Arts & Industry, Salmon Studios went from a two-person operation to employing seven people. He moved to the current location in 2014, the increased floor space gave his company increased capabilities to tackle larger jobs.

Salmon Studios partners with architects and designers on bringing conceptual drawings to finished products. Ostroff says VCA, a woodworking business on Earle Street in Northampton, has been a key partner in the past two and a half years.

And the company’s name? Ostroff was out to dinner with friends one night trying to come up with a name.

“We ordered salmon and it just worked,” he said. “It sparks conversation and it gets people talking and its a foray into a bigger discussion of what we do.”

Public art projects, 9/11

Even as work for residential apartments has taken off at Salmon Studios, Ostroff and his crew of metalworkers haven’t stopped making public art.

Last week, Salmon Studios completed a memorial dedicated to first responders who gave their lives saving others on Sept. 11, 2001, that will be installed at the Riverfront Park on West Columbus Avenue in Springfield.

The memorial includes a large section of steel salvaged from the World Trade Center, an I-beam that stands at 9.5-feet tall. The I-beam will stand vertically in front of a bronze wall, which includes the engravings of the names of first responders. At night, the memorial will cast a shadow of the twin towers on the wall and names.

“The shadows are reminiscent of what the two towers looked like,” Ostroff said. The names engraved on the memorial walls were intentionally placed to leave a blank space in the middle.

“During the day, you don’t see what’s happening but there is a void left there,” he said. “At night, when it’s dark and the lights come on, you see the shadows created … It’s a special piece for us.”

The Spirit of Springfield, a nonprofit organization, was given the artifact from the World Trade Center by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a memorial in Springfield.

Scott Lesure, an Ashfield resident who works at Salmon Studios, gave the walls a patina finish to give the metal an aged, bronzed look last week.

“It’s a very important project,” Lesure said. “It represents a great deal in honoring first responders … It’s something we handled very respectfully.”

The memorial will be installed this spring, Ostroff said, and there will be an unveiling ceremony on Sept. 11.

Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com

]]>