For the last 25 years Chris Brammall and his company CB Arts have been helping put some of the best of Cumbrian craftsmanship on display across the UK.

CB Arts' metalwork is on display everywhere, from large public realm projects to private commissions in people's homes.

Originally from Far Sawrey, Chris initially wanted to study furniture design but then took a place on a blacksmithing course at Hereford College.

"I just took to it like a duck to water," he says.

"It was a medium I could work with."

After leaving college he set up his own forge in a barn on the Graythwaite Estate, on the west shore of Windermere.

Some of his early customers were mum and dad Andrew and Sylvia who sold his wares at the Old Courthouse Gallery, which they then owned in Ambleside.

"That became a catalyst for producing work to go in there, mirrors and candlesticks and smaller scale things," says Chris.

"I always had this ambition it would move to public realm bigger scale work. We just started making bigger and bigger things."

His first large commission came in the form of a new town clock for Whitley Bay, Newcastle, in 1999 and more were soon to follow.

As the business – and its products – became bigger, it outgrew the barn and moved to its current 850 square metre site on the Low Mill Business Park, Ulverston in 2004.

One of the first jobs the team – which now numbers 12 – worked on at the new site was the bandstand on the Glebe, in Bowness, inspired by the branches of the trees on the shores of the lake.

Many other commissions followed, with the company's biggest project to date being the new entrance canopy for the Churchill War Rooms, in London, which is a branch of the Imperial War Museum where visitors can explore a World War Two bunker and museum.

Most recently, CB Arts completed work for the National Trust fabricating and installing a new ladder for accessing the top of the Bowder Stone, in Borrowdale.

Always with an eye to ergonomic detail, the team made sure the steps were designed so boulderers who climb on the stone can continue to swing up them hand over hand as a traditional warm up.

In most cases, the company will see a project through from its conception right through to the installation of the piece.

"The guys in the workshop are fabricating this stuff and putting their stamp on it, once they've bevelled all the edges and made it beautiful and perfect they want to see that through," says Chris.

However, despite taking on these big ticket projects, CB Arts still produces the candlesticks that Chris began with, alongside a whole range of bespoke sculptures, fixtures, fittings and decorations for customers all over the country.

"It's such a broad range, if it's in metal we'll do it," says Chris.

"I've never shied away from anything. You look at something and say that's going to be a real challenge, but we can do it and pull it together."

The company's team of metalworkers have a range of skills and Chris trains and encourages them to work across disciplines such as welding, sheet metal working or blacksmithing so they can apply themselves to different projects.

The company has begun work to develop a range of gates designed by Chris and influenced by his time walking in the fells, which can be adapted to any size a customer wants.

Cathy Burrows, the company's new projects and marketing manager, says this will enable the company to access a market that wants high quality metalwork, but does not necessarily want to commission a completely original piece.

"It's part of the business evolving and looking at gaps in the market and reaching more retail type of customers but without rolling out the same thing time and time again," she says.

This year the business also rebranded to become known as CB Arts, retaining its wren logo, which Chris designed with his daughter, Wren, in mind.

"The whole ethos of (the rebrand) is to allow a bit more future proofing for other people to be involved with design," says Chris.

"The idea is changing that identity slightly so that I am still leading on the design side, but my aim and ambition is to develop other talented designers to come in and work under more of an umbrella. To give the whole thing some longevity we're going to have to develop talent in the workshop and talent in design as well.

"I was talking to my daughter and she said isn't it amazing to think that her kids will see this stuff long after I've gone and it's still going to be used and people are still going to be engaging with it. It's really nice to know that's part of it."

This interview appeared in this month's edition of in-Cumbria magazine. Read the e-edition

here