Cast Iron

Although it was not our original intention, when we started designing the cafe, there were a lot of elements (railings, spiral stairs, etc) that seem to suggest cast or wrought iron.  Cast iron can be a beautiful material, and when done properly it can have a really interesting antique look, however it is also a challenge because there has been a far amount of cheap, tasteless, naff crap made recently.

Done right, cast iron has an interesting antique feel... Done wrong, it feels like the garden section of Home Depot.

We need a real artesian who can craft what we want and also has access to antique molds which will properly match the age of the building.  Fortunately, Porto has a lot of cast iron around, it is very common for buildings to have cast railings, and other accents.  So it seemed that there must still be some craftsmen in the city, but how to find them?  Searching the internet did not turn up much, we found some specialists in the US, and England, but it just feels like something we should be having done locally.

Then we found CIF.  They are located about 10 kilometers up the Douro river from Porto.   Although they are also creating modern pieces, walking into the foundry was a bit like stepping back in time.  It's an awesome place, something like Willy Wonka meets Mad Max!

If it were up to me, they would have Umpa Lumpas, but I guess you can't have everything.

What a wonderful place, filled with things that can rip you to shreds, cut you to pieces, and incinerate anything that remains! 

Where the magic happens

Modern demand seems to have tilted towards their line of wood stoves and ovens, some of which are really beautiful.

Hansel and Gretel where cooked in one just like this.

We spent a few hours wondering around this place.  It was hard to keep from being giddy as a school boy...  Every now and then it was good to remember that this is one of the few places where falling into a bubbling cauldron of multen metal is a real risk.

These are the forms filled with molten metal

Here is a video of a new batch being made out of the rejects:

After seeing the foundry, they took us in the back where we got to see what really makes this place special.  They have a huge storeroom filled with forms, some of them dating from over 100 years!

Somewhere in here our railings and staircase is waiting to be born