About
Creating handcrafted works of art
Black Tine Design specializes in creating creative, custom metalworks for homes in Castle Rock, Denver, and surrounding Colorado communities. Emphasizing true craftsmanship, innovative finishes, and meticulous design is what sets our company apart from the competition. We specialize in high-end metal fabrication and use fluid, computer-aided design skills to offer a variety of services ranging from custom staircase rails and gates to accent walls and furniture.
Our Story
Shortly after moving to Castle Rock, Nick Mele and his family were settling into their dream home. It was everything they wanted in a house — except for the staircase rail, which appeared as if someone attempted to remodel it and ran out of experience or motivation. So, as a lifelong DIY-er, Nick began looking for materials to rebuild it.
Nick found a free computer-aided design system and did his best to recall what he learned in college while earning his manufacturing engineering degree. The project took Nick eight months to complete, including replacing the stair treads and flooring while working full-time at a car dealership and overcoming COVID once or twice.
The project was so successful, and the finished product so rewarding, that Nick's satisfaction with the work was starkly contrasted by his unsatisfying 9-5 job. Soon after that, he posted a photo of his project on a local social media group and was shocked to find overwhelming interest in what he had created, along with messages from several homeowners and contractors interested in hiring him.
From that initial interest, Nick contracted with one client, often working until 2 or 3 a.m. to complete the project. While on his daily drive to the client’s residence, Nick often saw a grazing herd of pronghorns. Also known as the American antelope and once identified as a protected species, a pronghorn sighting was a special experience for Nick as a child.
The animal's survival depends on nothing but the quickness of their legs and sharpness of their eyes — tough, rugged, independent, and one-of-a-kind. Their black antlers are an unmistakable icon, the tines curving to sharp points.
For Nick, there wasn't a more fitting icon for his business. Black Tine Design was born in 2022 with an emphasis on quality, which is often in the details. Nick’s goal is to be known as a lifestyle brand that produces ultra-high-quality products.
"Think of it as the Land Rover of handrails — only, my products are also reliable," Nick said lightheartedly. "So, maybe more like the Lexus of handrails, if Lexus was just a bit more premium."
Why us
Black Tine Design operates by two core values: attention to detail and adaptability.
When it comes to detail, we let the Golden Rule be our guiding principle. If it doesn't look good enough to be in our home, it's not good enough for your home either.
While this might seem a simple concept at first, applying this premise often means we start over two or three times before we get it right. If a weld doesn't look uniform, then it gets ground down and re-welded. If a piece is not plumb and square, it gets cut apart and re-made.
If our master craftsmen couldn't look at the work they're building day after day, year after year, in their own home, knowing that something isn't quite right, then we won't put that work in your space either. It's as simple as that. We treat your home as if it was ours.
One example of adaptability is that we do our own in-house finishing work and coating. When building our first project, we found that our local powder coating companies had regular lead times between 4-8 weeks.
In our mind, waiting that long for your metalwork to be finished is unacceptable. So, we decided to offer that service in-house and even built our own curing oven to provide the best possible finish in the shortest possible time.
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