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PrintSteel Strike Leather
Anecdotes about how stores are named range from the mundane to the bizarre, but few are as poignant as the tale behind the title of Steel Strike Leather, an artisan furniture company in Buena Vista, Colorado. “My dad made the Olympic equestrian team at the age of 16, but his mother wouldn’t let him go,” explains owner and artist Philip Smith. “He never got over it. His horse went with the team and took the bronze medal under another rider. The horse was named Steel Strike, so I named it in homage to my father.”
It’s also an appropriate name given what Smith does all day — strikes steel and leather to create high-end furnishings that blend distinctive design aesthetics, from cowboy and Indian to European and lodge styles. “I wanted a style that was livable and comfortable, yet elegant,” Smith says of the luxury Western look that he calls “cattle baron.”
“To me the only true heritage America has is its Western culture. We want our customers to understand the world we come from,” says Smith, who is proud to have found the appropriate setting for his pioneer-influenced stylings in the lush Arkansas River Valley. Surrounded by the Collegiate Peaks, the Buena Vista showroom is housed in a picturesque 9,000-square-foot red barn. “It’s about being outdoors and having a love of horses and the mountains, and about being in an atmosphere that’s not too formal, where you can live with your furniture and not be scared to touch anything,” Smith says. “We took all of that and wrapped it into our big red barn.” Also serving as the artist’s home, the barn-turned-gallery is decked in Western elegance, featuring wrapped wood beams, Chippendale log railings, a grand fireplace, and shimmering chandeliers.
Steel Strike Leather, 27940 County Road 319, Buena Vista, Colorado, 719.395.8802, www.steelstrike.com.
Issue: June 2011
