Along the banks of the French Broad River in Woodfin sits Riverside Business Park, home to more than 30 tenants. Among those is Haw Creek Forge, an artistic endeavor whose name belies its current location.

Haw Creek Forge began as the vision of Catherine Murphy at her Haw Creek home nearly two decades ago. Catherine had been a construction welder who had worked on high rises, power plants, and paper mills. Once she attended the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina, she says she never looked back. She was drawn to copper and began using it artistically. Soon Haw Creek Forge arose as the embodiment of her artistic impression.

For a while Catherine decided “to live in the country,” so she bought a farm in Tennessee. But the allure of the Western North Carolina mountains brought her back and she opened the Haw Creek Forge location in Woodfin in 2004.

The studio is substantially sized and the business has grown from a one-person operation to having a handful of employees. Margy Murphy handles a lot of the orders, marketing, and other business issues. She even helps with a lot of the patinas, too. Other staff members help to cut the pieces of copper, do some welding, and generally form an assembly line process.

The atmosphere is relaxed. Employees bring their dogs to work. Kayaks stay out back to be used for lunchtime paddling breaks. The dogs get to take an occasional dip in the river, too. Production is four days a week. Catherine and Margy are usually in the studio five days a week if they aren’t traveling to a craft or trade shows.

For the most part, Haw Creek Forge produces whimsical garden art (or as they call it “jewelry for the garden”), but Catherine is occasionally commissioned to do bigger pieces. In fact, this month (June) she will unveil a major work for Mission Hospital. The substantial installation, which will be located on the north side of the west tower and viewed by patients on the orthopedic floor, depicts large metal mountains, clouds, and trees.

“I’ve done work for Mission Hospital in the past and they are great to work for,” Catherine said. “This is a major project. We will do a pre-installation on our own building here to see what all is involved and then we’ll work with a general contractor for the actual installation at the hospital.”

Most of the time Catherine uses a hammer, vise, anvil, and oxy-acetylene torch to create the typical bestsellers: butterflies, hummingbirds, and bats. Looking online or visiting the studio you will also find many more animal designs: birds, bees, frogs, dragonflies, ladybugs, snails, spiders, and snakes. You’ll also find designs of a botanical variety including sunflowers, daisies, and dogwood branches, among others. Catherine says she would like to do more one-of-a-kind pieces and commissioned works.

Prices for her works typically range from around $20 up to about $200. Over time, the focus of Haw Creek Forge sales has transitioned from mostly retail to mostly wholesale. Three winter trade shows and three summer trade shows bring in much of the annual revenue for Haw Creek Forge. Those who appreciate garden sculpture in Western North Carolina can find Haw Creek Forge designs at Black Mountain Iron Works, Peak Experience (Highlands), Textures on Main (Waynesville), and Heartwood Contemporary Crafts Gallery (Saluda) in addition, of course, to the Haw Creek Forge Studio.

Catherine lists the ever-rising price of copper as one of the challenges of her business. “Before long I will be working with precious metals,” she says with a wry laugh. She says another challenge is continuing to get younger people interested in gardening.

Catherine says she thinks people are beginning to appreciate handmade American products again and says a goal for their company is to be picked up by more museum stores across the nation. As it stands, Haw Creek Forge works can often be found in garden centers, galleries, flower shows, and wild bird stores.

When Catherine says, “I love where I am,” she likely means both the physical location of her studio and where she is in life. “I want to keep doing what I do. I want to grow gracefully but that isn’t the biggest goal. I just want to keep making great art.”

Haw Creek Forge is located at 2000 Riverside Drive, Studio Six, in Woodfin. Visit online .