Not everyone thinks about the shape of kitchen cabinet handles, the design of the towel rods in the bathroom or the texture of keyhooks inside a door.
But Durango blacksmith Nathaniel Winkler thinks about them everyday.
Winkler, who runs hand-forged hardware business Element Hardware, creates what he calls “functional art” – the small pieces of a home, like cabinet handles, drawer knobs, toilet paper holders and towel rods – that often get overlooked but can make or break a space.
The business, which has been operating since 2016, serves Durango locals as well as customers from all over the country through the shop’s Etsy page. Key chains and sculptures are also sold on the site.
Element ships pieces out of a shop Winkler built himself on his property off Lightner Creek Road (County Road 207), but the plan is to move the business into a storefront in town as soon as he can find the right spot.
“It’s going to happen, it’s just a question of when,” Winkler said. “I really want that engagement. I miss being with the public, and I really love that interaction.”
Winkler has a long history with handcrafting. He worked in his grandfather’s woodshop in Indiana as a child, and crafts sculptures and other artistic works alongside his functional endeavors with Element.
Crafting iron hardware for cabinets in his own home inspired him to start his own business, he said.
For more information
Nathaniel Winkler, owner of Element Hardware, can be reached at (458) 206-9754 or nate@handforgedhomedecor.com.
Element Hardware’s Etsy shop can be accessed by visiting www.etsy.com/shop/ElementHardware
He has worked with a range of local businesses, including 2180 Lighting and Design Studio, Urban Market and Azul Gallery.
Winkler has worked on more than 100,000 kitchens since the business began, and sold over 150,000 pieces on Etsy in 2024 alone.
When a space includes handcrafted, custom hardware, you can feel it, he said. And in an age where most hardware is sourced from out of country suppliers and commercial businesses, that magic doesn’t touch as many homes as he’d like.
“(Handcrafted hardware) is something that kind of has a soul and tells a story,” he said. “You can feel it when you grab onto your cabinets, (that) energy of something that was really handcrafted, and every single piece has different little marks, because they were (made by hand). I think that’s disappearing.”
Some of that magic arose for Winkler while working with a customer whose husband died before he was able to complete interior work on a cabin near Electra Lake.
“She came to me and she said, ‘It was my husband’s dream thing, and he died before he finished, and I’m trying to honor him and what he wanted,’” Winkler said. “We did some (custom hardware) for the kitchen, and she was over the moon.”
He remembers her as one of his happiest customers.
“It meant a lot, because for her it was all very emotional,” Winkler said. “She wanted to really do it right, in honor of him.”
Each piece of hardware at Element costs about $12 and takes several hours to complete, Winkler said. Tools like a power hammer, press and forge are used to make the pieces, and everything is completed by him and employee Kelli Wallace.
Wallace called the business, and Winkler, hidden gems of Durango.
“(The business) is amazing and beautiful, and I think everyone should know about (Winkler),” she said.
Winkler wants to make sure that handcrafted artistry remains alive in Durango homes.
“I think the cottage industry and staying true to a craft and putting out quality is dying,” he said. “I’m trying to put forward that, ‘Hey, these crafts are worth it,’ you know? It’s worth it to support local, to support real craftspeople who are creating functional art.”
epond@durangoherald.com
