Today we’d like to introduce you to Kit Casati.
Kit, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’ve been drawn to manipulating materials and creating objects as far back as my memories go, and layering new skills with every new challenge I seek out. I find great value in rare and unusual things, especially those found in nature, and my curiosity for creating has shaped me into an artist committed to respecting each step of a process.
As a metalsmith and jeweler, I value steel and iron as much as pure gold and platinum, and my blend of these materials in a single piece reflects that. As a sculptor, I’ve created various pieces for churches and museums as well as countless Props and art pieces for the movie world.
Some of my jewelry and sculpture has hints of the Gothic arches and shapes found in castles and churches in Europe, a result of growing up in a military family in Germany and England. Those early influences carry through in some of my jewelry designs in the relation of curves and angles. My body of work includes bespoke jewelry, architectural sculptures, ceremonial daggers, and multiple “hero shots” for numerous movies.
I’ve been creating since I saved my allowance to buy string and tape instead of candy. When we moved back to the United States, I was 13 and had a strong British accent. The challenges of adolescence were exacerbated with the culture shock and my parents’ divorce, and I found my safe place in my room, focused on experimenting with metal work.
That first year in Austin is when I made my first a suit of armor with chain and scale maille that went over the shirt. It took months of evenings and late nights, and I felt proud when I completed it in time for Halloween. But my joy was short-lived. I made it down the block before I realized it was way too heavy, so I turned back home in search of the previous year’s costume.
Soon after that I began to wrap silver wire around crystals to make pendants using a butane torch my dad brought me for soldering pipes. I learned how to use the torch in my bedroom and figured out basic silver soldering, although my results were crude, wasteful, and not exactly the safest.
As a freshman in high school I continued to teach myself how to make jewelry. My after-school job at a crystal shop was near a jewelry shop owned by a Vietnam vet named Randy. After meeting him, I’d stop in and ask for advice when I couldn’t figure out issues with my jewelry projects. Instead of giving me solutions, he’d give me projects. I didn’t realize then that he was testing me.
Once he gave me a piece of wax and told me to carve a ring in the shape of Florida in gold nugget style, without any instructions. I went home and carved it for more than eight tedious hours with wood chisels. When I returned the carving, he liked it and gave my $30. My questions continued until his patience tired and one day he responded “do you just want to work for me?”, and that is how my apprenticeship started.
Later, I was surprised to learn that I could get a degree in fine arts specializing in metalsmithing, so after high school I went to Texas State University in San Marcos. One of my highlights was their full metal shop. It wasn’t a standard metal fabrication shop with welding, grinding or large-scale metal fabrication as the focus. This one had all the tools and machinery that resembled an old-world jewelry metal shop with rolling mills, die-form press, benches, stakes and hammers, a centrifuge for casting and kilns for doing burnouts. But the most important thing I found there was the camaraderie of working around a dozen other like-minded people who felt as passionately as I did about creating small-scale art out of metal.
As a student I joined the Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), which helped expose me to other influences for my work with conferences I attended after fundraising for the costs. One of these trips was to Washington D.C., where an ancient Japanese sword that was thousands of years old and caught my eye in one of the Smithsonian museums. It was forged meteorite Damascus, and it mesmerized me. As I stared at it, I decided that I would learn how to make a blade like that.
I returned to Austin determined to recreate that sword. But, although it wasn’t that long ago, back then there was no Instagram where I could follow other artists on similar paths, or watch a YouTube video to follow a tutorial. In order to learn something new I either had to check out a book or be lucky enough to take a class from someone. But I didn’t know anyone who’d worked with meteorites, let alone tried to forge them into multiple layers with steel into a blade. I had one miserable failure after another and ended up shelving the idea of forging meteorite for a few years.
In the next decade, I opened my own art studio “Casati Designs” and designed and made various architectural works for interior designers and architects. My first big commission was the twelve Stations of the Cross in bronze and various other embellishments at St. Theresa Church, in Austin. In the next years I continued to create unique pieces of jewelry as commissions, and sculptures that dot various locations around Texas and New Mexico.
I later bought a casting company with a friend and named it Echo Casting, which focused on casting silver and gold jewelry for other artists. This is where I really began to learn how to cast metal, as there was no room for mistakes. Around this time, I was contacted by the local Trouble Maker Studios to cast a “last minute” ring overnight for a morning movie shoot. Shaquille O’Neal had loaned his Lakers ring to Sylvester Stallone, who wore it for the shoot and then left town, but the production company needed to reshoot the scene with Stallone’s hand and asked me to make the ring for an insert shot of Stallone’s hand in “Spy Kids 3”. This was my first exposure to movie work and I enjoyed the adrenaline of the challenge.
After one-and-a-half years at Echo Casting, I decided to sell my half of the business to my partner and moved it out to his bronze foundry Deep in the Heart, located in Bastrop, where I worked supervising the jewelry section and later the large-scale metal shop.
At this time Troublemaker Studios reached out to me once again to make most of the jewelry and metal pieces for the movie “Sin City”. Some of the items I made included the cop badge for the character “John Hartigan”, played by Bruce Willis, to the cross worn by “Marv” played by Mickey Rourke, both in sterling silver. I didn’t know it at the time, but this was my entry into 17 years of movie work.
Fourteen years ago, with more skills acquired over time, I once again began experimenting with meteorites and forged my first meteorite ring successfully with my wife’s help. This ring became my wedding band. A few years after my first meteorite ring, I forged my first meteorite Damascus blade in 2007. I used an el Campo del Cielo meteorite mixed with 1095 and 15n20 tool steel. This dagger has a cast silver and bronze handle molded from a vine I found on a hike in the woods. This blade is intended for my son, which I will gift to him on his 21st birthday.
Movie work, being sporadic in nature, facilitated the growth of my own personal and creative endeavors in the slow time between movie projects. It also allowed me the resources to build the shop I now have and where I hand-forge iron and continue to teach myself how to improve the meteorite blades and jewelry I currently make.
One result of working with meteorites that gives me great pride is the line of custom-made meteorite rings that are often requested to be used as wedding bands. These unique pieces of jewelry are a profound way to show deep commitment from one soul to another.
I’m continuing to explore the merging of unexpected materials in my work, taking delight in the natural beauty of organic patterns. I specifically try to seek out responsibly sourced materials for my creations, because it’s important to me that I support companies that pay fair wages and respect the environment where they mine gemstones. Another development is that I now share my work and process with other emerging artists on Instagram, imagining that it might help another teen in his room trying to figure out a new approach.
Currently I work at Rooster Teeth Productions as an Art Director and Fabrication Manager. I also continue to run my own business “Kit Casati” (under Cymatic Arts International, LLC), often conceptualizing and making art such as weapons and jewelry for Hollywood movies, the most recent one was “Alita: Battle Angel”, the James Cameron, Jon Landau sci-fi to be released February 2019. Some of the trailers (and this cover) show Alita’s heroic sword which I designed and made.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Since time memoriam, I believe humans have been on a fundamental journey of self-realization. This journey has been preserved in the tangible arts and images that have survived the ravages of time. My inspiration as an artist is to continue this tradition of preserving ideas and to explore some of the pre-existing notions held by society.
My creative process serves as a venue for a personal alchemical transformation that helps me to better understand the relationship between the spiritual and physical worlds. In essence, each physical piece I create becomes a 3D sketch in my life’s journey that helps answer who I am, where I come from, and guides me to where I am going.
I believe the ability to manifest ideas into tangible objects is one of the gifts that we each possess as a soul in a physical body. As an artist and maker, my work originates from an interactive dialogue, a call and response by means of direct manipulation of materials. This hands-on approach to process and materials helps to stabilize my evolution of thought and “grounds” me in the real world. By making individual pieces that can be worn or used, I am taking a snapshot of time and transforming matter to represent questions or ideas.
Iron meteorites have become a pivotal material that I have been using and exploring in new ways over the past 13 years, inspired by a Japanese blade that I saw as a college student. I am intrigued with the idea of using a material that is millions of years old and that might possibly be from a different universe or solar system.
Meteoritic iron also serves as a fantastic metaphor for the spiritual alchemical transformation that takes place for each of us on our own personal journeys. For example, most meteors are rocks that burn up in the atmosphere from extreme heat and friction during an attempted entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Meteors that contain iron have a higher probability of breaching the atmosphere and making it through the extreme conditions, and landing on Earth. Similarly, I believe we as humans have an opportunity to burn off impurities and refine ourselves by undergoing the many trials and tribulations that life has to offer. The iron meteorite represents this process of transformation from its inception to its arrival here on Earth. By taking this ancient iron and then reworking into a functional, aesthetically-pleasing object that carries symbolic meaning, such as a wedding ring or a ceremonial dagger, I am exploring the idea of value in relation to culture through permanence and function.
As modern humans, it seems we have an unconscious bias that certain materials have inherent higher value. Gold and silver are often prized and held in high regard, whereas other materials such as iron and steel have a lesser assigned value or have become taken for granted.
Precious materials, such as gold or gemstones, carry a rich history of value across antiquity in almost all known civilizations, usually representing wealth or power. In contrast, iron and steel are more aligned in the function and utility of directly carrying out real world goals, from the sword to the plow shear.
By combining materials that are precious, such as gold and platinum, with iron in a precious way, I hope to spark an idea that questions what defines value. An example of this dialogue is my line of jewelry and blades that combine meteorite iron mixed with tool steel in the “Damascus” or pattern-welded process with gold, silver and precious gemstones. This intentional combination of contrasting physical and symbolic materials is to bring into awareness the different and equal values of each material.
I am inspired to challenge myself and manifest my evolution as an artist with my creations. My body of work includes bespoke jewelry, architectural sculptures, ceremonial daggers, design of furniture and equipment, museum exhibits, and multiple key props used for “hero shots” in Hollywood movies. As an artist, I work with every material I can get my hands on from wood, plastic, stone, metal, rubber, foam, gems, and mineral rough material. My work can be divided into two main categories: Commissions for clients based on their ideas, and work that comes from my own muse and inspiration to create, for the sake of art alone.
I often find myself with a need and desire to learn a new processes or technique. Currently I have been making large-scale equipment that, once completed, allows me to make my own tools. For example, I recently finished a 135-pound power hammer that weighs over 2,000 pounds and strikes with about 1,500 pounds of force. I needed this tool to allow me to continue with the brutal work of hammering steel and meteorite, without putting my back out of commission.
However, I will say that my passion unquestionably is metal and metalwork. I appreciate the ability to work on a small-scale piece, such as a ring with thirty tiny 1mm diameter stones, as setting with precision puts me in a meditative state. And I also value my ability to hammer out a Damascus billet into a sword or knife, which requires a completely different set of skills.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
This is such a subjective question because each artist has to face the specific challenge to manifest their creativity or reflect their path in a world that is constantly changing. And these challenges shift and evolve with each individual and the choices they make.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My sculpture and art can be found at various museums, churches and private homes, as well as in Hollywood movies. I also keep my Instagram page @kit_casati updated with photos and videos of recent works as well as my process, and my website KitCasati.com has more about me. I invite readers to follow me on Instagram or reach out to me for custom handmade work.
I sell my work directly through commissions from people who reach out to me from word-of-mouth or social media, at booth shows locally, at the International Gem and Jewelry Show and at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
My creations can be seen in multiple big-name movies, such as James Cameron’s “Alita: Battle Angel,” where I designed and made the hero sword that the protagonist uses, and many other props as well. Recently, I also made a key prop for the new Tom Hanks war Drama “GreyHound” that is to be released April 2019. Here’s a partial list of other movies that use my work.
Some of my sculptures are in museums and public spaces such as The Perot Museum in Dallas that displays the interactive cage structure that embraces the 5-foot 5000-pound geode, the giant representation of Logrono pyrite as you enter the gem and mineral hall and the tourmaline mineral pocket that I sculpted using real tourmalines and other mineral specimens. If you visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science, look for my sculpture of a prehistoric xenacanthus shark, and if you’re in Austin you will find my work in various private residences and businesses, such as the karaoke rooms at Alamo/Highball on South Lamar Boulevard, and the twelve Stations of the Cross, holy oil holders and hundreds of votive candle holders in the sacramental chapel of St. Theresa Catholic church. Here are images and a partial list of some locations where my sculptures can be found.
The easiest place to see some of my current work is on social media on Instagram @Kit_Casati or on my webpage at KitCasati.Com
List of Kit Casati art/Sculptures (PARTIAL)
St. Theresa Church, Bronze Stations of the Cross, holy oil holders, votive candle holders. Austin, Texas.
Perot Museum of Nature and Science, (Lyda Hill Gem and Minerals Hall), Pyrite sculpture, 5-foot-tall amethyst geode, tourmaline pocket, fluorescent mineral pocket. Dallas, Texas.
Alamo/Highball, art/sculptures in karaoke rooms. South Lamar Boulevard, Austin, Texas.
St. John Vianney Church, Holy oil holders. Round Rock, Texas.
Andreeva Portrait Gallery, Bronze and stainless-steel display cases. Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Houston Museum of Natural Science, 5-foot Xenacanthus shark. Houston, Texas.
List of Kit Casati art in movies (PARTIAL)
Movies, various Kit Casati creations https://kitcasati.
“Alita: Battle Angel”: Made the sword for Rosa Salazar and other key props.
“Greyhound”: Made hero prop for Tom Hanks.
“Sin City”, Made all silver jewelry, cop badge for Bruce Willis, blade for yellow bastard.
“Predators”: Managed the Prop Fabrication shop, responsible for all props for movie. Personally made sword for Yakuza vs Predator scene and desk props for Laurence Fishburne.
“Machete Kills”: Machine Gun Bra for Sofia Vergara.
“Machete”: Various machetes in metal and rubber for Danny Trejo.
“Grindhouse,” Made bracelet for Kurt Russell, various other props.
“Girls Trip”: Made gold pendants for Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, Regina Hall and Tiffany Haddish.
“Get Hard”: Made Hero shiv knife for Will Ferrell, various other props.
“Temple Grandin”: Welded up cattle corrals.
“True Grit”: Sculpted the snake pit where Hailee Steinfeld fell with Jeff Bridges.
“Spy Kids 3”: Made ring for Sylvester Stallone for insert shot.
“Shorts”: Made the hero rainbow rock, and various other props.
“Man of the House,” made navel rings for cheerleaders.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3207 Catalina Drive Austin, TX 78741
- Website: www.kitcasati.com
- Phone: 512-680-9938
- Email: kitcasati@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kit_casati/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/
CasatiKit/
Image Credit:
Kit Casati forging a meteorite Damascus blade. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
3. Meteorite Damascus ring with 18k gold and 2 ct moissanite. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
4. Meteorite Damascus wedding set, with 14k gold and inlaid diamonds. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
5. Meteorite Damascus dagger with silver and bronze handle, molded and cast from a vine. This was my first successful meteorite damascus blade, which I will gift to my son on his 21st birthday. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
6. Damascus ceremonial dagger with meteorite inlay, silver and gemstones. Ebony handle. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
7. Detail 1, Damascus ceremonial dagger with meteorite inlay, silver and gemstones. Close up of ebony handle and silver crossguard with rubellite tourmalines. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
8. Detail 2, Damascus ceremonial dagger with meteorite inlay, silver and gemstones. Close up of the pommel of handle with meteorite and rubellite tourmalines. Photo credit: Kit Casati.
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