Long ago, when it was fashionable to offer letters of recommendation to prospective patrons, the artist accumulated a portfolio of references that were as vital to his working career as the work itself.  And if there happened to be, among those references, a King or Queen or member of the royal court, one stood a good chance of plying one's trade for a reasonable stipend that, in turn, allowed one to continue plying one's trade. 

To continue plying one's trade.  Isn't it odd to consider a career in this light?  As a privilege. In the old days I carried a photo portfolio when arriving at a patron's home and from that portfolio, we reviewed the possibilities and departures.  This in building up a patronage one family at a time until there were about 30 families in the San Francisco / Marin County areas who were considered the core of my privileged career.

It's been 20 years since I stood with a potential client and reviewed a portfolio, and a dozen years since I possessed a standard business card.  I have a catalog, replacing the old portfolios, but with hundreds of products now and designs changing and modifying as often as the wind changes, the catalog itself seems pointless.   

One thing that doesn't change is the sheer enjoyment of interacting with those who call and write in and the few I was privilaged to meet in person.  Maneuvering our way through the process of insuring they are rewarded with what's right for them and their property.  Once inside this process, they are forever remembered. The lasting social graces of being rewarded with their patronage .

Now and again they will write in with kind words, although most often these kudos are passed over the phone. A few write who have no intentions of purchasing a CPW product, but feel some need to reach out. And a few--perhaps the most enjoyable--write from a perspective of having parked themselves on the site for weeks, foraging deep into the nether reaches of the web site.  Some--far too many actually--wrote in regarding an elaborate treehouse once posted on the site.  The Treehouse has since been removed, for this very reason, and yet we've included a few of their comments below for no other reasons than they seem to fall within a tone-of-voice or airy stratosphere apparently relegated to lovers of treehouses. 

There are also a number of other areas once on the web site that have since been removed.  What fell under a heading titled "Pointless Pastimes', buried deep and not so easily found and have nothing whatsoever to do with the CPW products.  These are occasionally refered to below by those with an intrepid curiosity and an appeal for humor.  Perhaps someday we'll re-post these offerings, as the loss of their resulting correspondance is certainly missed.

Read until you are bored.

We will begin with those who actually sent hand-written notes, and not coincidental that those who actually write hand-written notes anymore happen to be, almost exclusively, novelists and writers.  Hmmm.

"Wonderful . . .Superb!"
Richard Thalhiemer (president of the Sharpoer Image and the recipient of a CPW home study and dressing room in 1985)

"Your gates are exuisite.  Stunning.  Your workmanship is most impressive."
Mark Helprin (Novelist)

"Very handsome work."
Martin Cruz Smith (Novelist)

"Charles,
The gates are perfect.  We have distressed them to match the shutters of the house.  Thank you for everything.  Hope to see you at Olivers on Sunday."
Isabelle Allende (Novelist)

"Your work is absolutely beautiful."
Susan Trott (Novelist)

"You are obviously a master craftsman, Charles."
Danielle Steel (Novelist)

"I was truly impressed, Charles.  Magnificent work!"
Jack Finney (Novelist.  --'Invasion of the Body Snatchers')

"Uncommonly beautiful.  An understated high-style."
San Francisco Chronicle-- 1975 design review of Sylvia's Continental Restuarant, on Clement St.  Designed by Prowell.

GENERAL COMMENTS (in no chronological order)

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On May 3, 1010
We live in Seattle and do all of our own woodworking and construction on our house.
We are currently building a fence with new gates and were looking at your site for inspiration.
We LOVE all the pictures with the superimposed monkeys and people-figures (and even the one of you with the nose glasses).
Plus, we really enjoyed the interludes of quotes and images of you working.

Great style! You can tell you're really living out your passion - your work is AMAZING - and we're so glad you shared how much fun you have with it on your web site.

Just wanted to say thanks and let you know that we really enjoyed your site.

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December 10, 2009 3:39:14 PM PST

Dear Charles:  Remember me?  You  made the Craftsman porch swing for our Coronado home three years ago.   We still love it!    I thought you would enjoy seeing this lovely note I received recently.  See the attached scanned copy.  I can relate to the writer, because that is how I felt when trying to find "just the right swing"!
I will give her your info and I just bet you will have another customer!

Hi Stephanie,
It's always nice to see your name in my inbox.  Although not something that happens to often, actually.

How nice to have someone take the trouble to write a note and leave it with you, and that you have passed it along.  I hope we do hear from her, as it will be a continuing link to you.

____________________

Sent in May 2007
Wow, you're designs are fabulous.  I can't wait until I make enough money via garage sales, selling my husbands old golf clubs, bowling balls and, well heck, my husband, to be able to buy a garden gate of yours.  They are things of beauty, to be sure.
The road trip story made me laugh out loud....am anxiously awaiting the next installment.  PLEASE keep writing, you are a much needed breath of fresh air!!!!!!!!!!

--Garage sales, bowling balls, golf clubs, and husbands; I'll be waiting forever.

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Charles:
Your site is truly wonderful. I live in Los Angeles but was born and raised in Sebastopol. I stumbled across your site it looking for gate designs to steal ideas from for one Im making myself. This is a funny question, but I just thought I'd ask:
Are you single?
Your a handsome guy with creativity and a sense of humor and I ask because my Mom (a very attractive, sweet, fun lady ) lives in Sebastopol too! If by any chance you are single and looking I've would love to fix you two up !
Write me back if you'd like more details.
Best,
Tanya

--Dear Tanya
I just realized that I never got around to answering this one.  But now that I have, I am at a loss for words.

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First of all, what a great website!
The most complete website with some of the greatest designs I have seen, including, accessories, technical data, and care, thanks so much. I have read your very complete installation instructions, and for the life of me, I can not seem to picture how I should go about the installation.
I may be over my head on this project, but I thought I would ask an expert before calling one of your local installers to my Thousand Oaks
home???
Thanks for one great website of some beautiful wood work by a true craftsman.
Happy holiday, enjoy.
Jeff
Thousand Oaks Ca.

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On Apr 7, 2010, at 11:36 AM, Ted wrote:
Hey Charles,

My wife wants a fence, and so I am looking around the Web for ideas. So far yours are the coolest, and I like your site so much that I'm going to mention it on my blog at Remodeling Magazine. Would you have a few minutes to talk about your designs and your construction methods, maybe? That would make it easier for me to steal your ideas, hrrm hrrm, I mean, it would make my blog more interesting.

Seriously -- your designs remind me of traditional indoor wainscoting -- I think my riff for my blog is going to be about how in California, where the weather is so mild, people tend to blur the distinction between their house interiors and the outside world, but then they need to make their fences more substantial in order to set apart their outdoor space as still a private space. So you get a formal fence, but with sort of an "outdoor room" decorating thing going on too, not just a blank wall. Type of thinking. California does have some really cool fences (and decks and gardens) -- I noticed it last fall when I was visiting my sister in Fairfax, north of San Francisco.

But from the standpoint of actually building something for my wife, myself, I am curious about how you evolved the way you put these things together. I see where you had a story in Fine Homebuilding back in the previous century -- I haven't read it yet, but I'm about to. I think she wants to buy one of yours for $80,000 (my wife does, not my sister), but I told her I could do it for $75k if she will fly me out there to watch you doing it first. And we can use the difference to sponsor an African child.

Anyway, if you are interested in a conversation, let me know -- I would enjoy talking with you.

Regards,
Ted

Hey Ted,
Interesting letter.  It must seem odd, but blogs are something I've yet to experience.  My patience online is almost nonexistent.  Maintaining and posting revisions to the web site for 14 years takes up 99% of my allotted allowance in that arena and as a result I've grown to avoid browsers like the plague.   

But I'm back from a couple weeks of traveling and if you were to pose questions, I'll make an honest attempt to answer them and we can explore what's worth exploring.

Charles

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Tuesday, August 01, 2006 1:21 AM

Thank you for your entertaining website. You do beautiful work. I wish I could commission your group to build my fence on my modest estate, south
of SF. Alas, your quality of work would stand out like a work of art announcing my high tone tastes to my neighbors. This would get in the
way of our chats as they focus on HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY? I'm just looking for regular, run of the mill fencing but was wondering
what you would do for a dog house? I'm imagining something akin to the treehouse, something that would charge up my Spanky to want to run and
play in his own house (and leave mine alone). Just a thought and feedback on your webpage.
Marie Ochi-Jacobs

Well, Marie, not always a bad thing to announce the state of your tastes to your neighbors, and as a result possibly, with this new change of high-class events-- the turn of conversation will veer away from last night's telly to , say . . .the opera, or whatever high-class folks discuss with their neighbors.

So Sparky needs a charge and preferably one of his own and not your own house. Will he be inviting local Sparkettes to his new home and are you okay with this? Or will the new doghouse require sound-proofing.
Charles

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January 13, 2007 8:06:15 PM PST

Hello
Just stopping in to say that your work is extraordinary.

Kristina

_______________

Hello!
I just needed to tell you a few things...First, your Fence #1 is just the fence I have been dreaming of. However, my budget at this time is strictly, as you say, "JC Penney". But I will wait and save until I can build a "Sax" fence similar to your Fence #1. Do it once and do it right is my motto. Second I had to tell you your FAQ section is fantastic. It is the first and only FAQ section that I have ever read purely for entertainment purposes. Thank you!
Sandy

Hello Sandy.
You'll be happy and hopeful to know that I am working with a large production shop in Massachusetts in an effort to hammer out an agreement that will allow us to offer the fencelines in volume at what I hope is a more affordable cost. They would come on board for the sole purpose of these volume fence orders and I'm crossing my fingers that it develops toward the desired end of making Fence #1 accessible to those who may not appear on Forbes 500. But it's a lot of work. On my part. Cajoling and charming and contriving and negotiating and I'm utterly exhausted and today, I'll play golf.

FAQ. I should return to read that. Not something I've done since it was composed. But reading something already written is counter productive when that time could better be spent writing something new. This morning six new things were written, in my inestimable boredom, and all of which continue this wretched addiction to words.

The first thing written, as a proviso to certain bay area patrons:

"And of course the standard we-forgot-to-mention up-charge for eastbay patrons that states, in very fine print, that if delivery falls on a day when there is a shooting in either Oakland or Richmond, a 22% combat fee is added. If the shootings result in fatalities, the combat rates doubles. If there is a gang war, in full bloom, and the Fedex driver must penetrate either Richmond or Oakland to access Berkeley, fully armed, the up-charge is a discretionary sum arrived at pretty much by how the papers play it up and how the cpw staff reacts to such playing-up from the country-bumpkin safe-haven distance of rural sebastopol, where there was once a shooting back in the 80s when Edgar Edgar and his son Edgar Edgar Jr went dove hunting in the Laguna behind the Ford dealer and their one shot ricocheted off a no-trespassing sign to carom off the side mirror of a new F-150 and eventually clean through the front tire of little Adlai Means new tricycle and you'd a thought it was a gang ! war, given all the hullabaloo. People over-reacted--hippies mostly--and they boycotted the Ford dealer, who had only the one truck to sell anyway, and had lots of meetings and basic hippy effrontery that resulted in a sign posted on Hwy 116 to announce Sebastopol as a Dpve-free Zone."

___________________

10-08
Living in Houston, and wondering if you have had any feedback from customers on your fences and how they hold up to hurricanes.

By the way, I love your FAQ's and agree with others that you should write a book. Perhaps not a reminiscence of building a business (which would be of interest mostly to boring MBA types), but something of a cross between Douglas Adams' work and a travel log. Even if you have nothing much to say (which I doubt), it will be told with an extremely enjoyable wit.
Kara

Kara,
I cant really say how the panels will hold up to 140 mph winds. We stand by them for life, barring the obvious distractions such as meteorites with an uncanny likeness to bing crosby hurling down upon your house, or the front bumpers of a bulbous SUV. Or a boat bouyed by flood waters.

The building standards of Houston are like those of Vegas and Phoenix and Orlando. Three cities I tend to avoid. With Houston being fourth on that list. Markets that are simply against my architectural grain.  And yet these places,Houston among them, in spite of my objections, continue to place orders.

Book: Folks assume I have oodles of time. That I play golf and body surf and ski and take daily naps followed by a daily swim and have my afternoon coffee with a crossword puzzle downtown and in the evenings read voluminously, all to fight off a nagging boredom.  When the truth is that I am a working man.  I work.  Writing is not work.  And writing a book even less so. 
Charles

___________

Hi Charley,
I hope you are doing well and still building beautiful gates.  Our next door neighbor had a new fence put in and the builder asked if our gate was a Charles Prowell gate!  It still looks great, but needs a little cleaning and oil, or something.  Hope to get to it this summer.
Take care.
 Robin

Hi Robin,
How wonderful to hear from you. How nice that your neighbor's contractor recognized your gate. You belong to a club, of sorts.
Charley

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July 2, 2007 3:57:41 AM PDT
Hi Charles,
While browsing the Internet for couple of garden panels I came across your "works of art". I cannot call your products fencing for they are beautiful pieces of functional and decorative outdoor art.
Now the problem and solution....
I live in Massachusetts and the closest you come to us is Chicago.
Have you thought of expanding to the East Coast? There is a market for your products (I still want to call them "art") here!
Alexandra

Thanks Alexandra.
We just lost our east shop a few months ago, as he found himself head-over-heels in love with a woman who happened to live in Portugal and decided to throw it all up in lieu of love and move to Portugal. As a consequence, our east commissions have dropped dramatically, although the only advantage to the location (Baltimore) was a smallish break on shipping. I had also looked for a long time to secure a facility in Massachusetts, taking an apt in Andover last summer and Fall to this end. but what i discovered is that this is an area dominated by boring colonial architecture and vinyl fences and not a good recipient for CPW designs. It was also a shock to me, Massachusetts, from the tranquil existence of Northern CA Sonoma County to the dense traffic and high RPM of that area. The sharp disparity between the affluence of some areas and the almost old-world factory mentality and economy of the rest of the state. Believe it or not, it was my first experience of having ever seen an actual factory building, and although they were all long-ago boarded up, the culture of these little towns seemed rooted by generations in this factory culture. It was both fascinating, and depressing at the same time.
So, regarding your fence. Get yourself in the hopper for the chicago shop; the cost of shipping/crating is miniscule compared to what you're going to spend anyway on the panels themselves.

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June 28, 2007 8:06:24 AM PDT
Mr. Prowell,

Beautiful work; one gets the impression your fences are a piece of furniture that just happen to be fences. Even in pictures it's clear they're not the usual fence.

_______________

Dear Charles,
Thanks for your ideas on the porch swing.  How do we proceed?
Steffanie

Dear Steffanie,
I am thrilled by this project. Offering subsequent patrons a modified style suitable for a scene right out of To Kill a Mockingbird. So we would press you for photos.
Charles

Hi Charles,
I enjoyed the reference to To Kill a Mockingbird! I spent every summer of my childhood visiting my grandmother in Ohio. Most nights we had 7-Up floats while swinging on the old porch swing, talking to the neighbors - soon I'll be able to do the same here on Coronado Island! I think you will have several subsequent patrons wanting this swing design. I have been searching for such a swing for 6 months - new or antique, and there is nothing out there! I even have an architectural salvage firm in Pasadena keeping an eye out for me!
Steffanie

Steffanie,
We'll get started and I'll have the fellas wearing slightly disheveled cardigan sweaters and a somewhat distant, weighty bearing to themselves all to invest the swing with something of Mockingbird's Atticus.
Charles

Jan 18, 2007, at 2:22 PM

Hello Charles - Surprise - the porch swing is FINALLY being hung today! It should be up when I get home from work today!! I will send
photos shortly. I am very excited! It had to be drilled through a stucco arch, up into a supporting beam,  etc. and my contractor finally had a few days to send out his exterior carpenters.
p.s. He was very impressed with the design and construction and may refer some clients to you. (Lorton Mitchell Custom Homes - Coronado)
Steffenie

Yippee! And I'm glad to hear it's being installed with all the safeguards to insure a long life span.
A photo 1) of the swing in place ,2) of the swing and the porch to show it's natural setting,and 3) one of yourself, in your swing, appearing contemplative and dreamy all at once and I promise we'll put that one on the site. You'll have legions of anonymous admirers.
Charles
___________

November 6, 2003 5:42:24 AM PST

I JUST BEGAN WORKING WITH WOOD. PLEASE SEND ME YOUR BEGINNERS CATALOGS. THANK YOU.

Dear Jacqueline,
I'm afraid I don't understand. A beginner's catalog? I do not run a school or apprenticeship here. I am a practicing woodworker.

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April 26, 2004 8:11:49 PM PDT

I have a chain link fence with metal posts set in concrete. I wish to replace this with a wood fence. Can I bore out the 4x4 posts to go over the metal posts and reuse them? If so, how much of the metal post is required for stability?

Thanks

Dave Rose

Good Lord, Dave. Are you serious? First of all, where are you going to find an auger bit long enough? How are you going to drill a straight hole? The 4x4 will check and crack once you have a hole through the center, and how can you adhere it to the metal post. You better bite the bullet and jack-hammer out you metal posts.

Charles

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March 14, 2007 4:24:40 PM PDT

Hello,
I live in Australia and have just done a Google search for gates.
I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed your site. There were lots pictures to look at.  The gates are all beautiful.
It was nice to see such a well thought out web page.
Thank you and have a nice day.

Gillian
Ballina
New South Wales
Australia

Thank you, Gillian.
I only wish we could ship a single gate affordably to Australia, as it would certainly warrant a trip to oversee its installation.
Charles

Charles if we win the big Lottery this week, I will ORDER one from you and when you install it, I will fire up the BBQ and throw a few Shrimp on the Barbie. Guess we both would like for my ticket to be the right numbers.......

Have a nice day
Gillian

_______________

Charles,
Congratulations on the pictures of your beautiful gates and fences being selected for what appears to be a very lovely book. Its great to see our gates included. Thanks for sharing!!
Best Regards,
Robert

____________________

May 3, 2007, at 1:24 AM

Well Mr. Prowell,
I just spent the last hour or so looking at your beautiful work on your website. Just amazing!  I really admire your talent. I am a lighting designer and have bookmarked your site to show one of my clients. Anyhow just thought I'd let you know that you have one more fan.
Thanks for the wonderful pictures!
Valerie Ash

Thank you, Valerie, and a pity how a single hour serves only to break the surface, to cull you into the netherreaches of a 700-page entreaty given as much to design, as a life lived.

Lighting design and a whole host of needs come to mind. My fascination with light and how the physics of it confounds me. So many new products these last couple of years limited because neither myself nor any of those in the various shops are lighting designers. I wish I knew a lighting designer. I wonder how one meets a lighting designer. Where do they hang out?
Charles

_________________

Dear Mr. Prowell:
Built a new house in Oklahoma and have a brick pillar very much like your G-20.  Looked and looked for help on a gate.  Got nowhere, then, your web site.  Couldn't believe it.  Initial reaction was, wow are these beautiful, then decided they are works of art.  Every now and then one discovers a truly superior product, and your gates are definitely superior works of art.  Magnificient work sir, I keep this site on my favorites, just to peruse your gates.  The work is so good it affects me like a great painting.
 Thanks
 Greg.

Greg,
Unfortunately, I spent the formative years between 6th grade and 10th grade in Oklahoma City, moving from our beloved Illinois farm to this strange land which I never did grow fond of. Fortunately we returned to southern Illinois before I was damaged beyond repair.
charles

____________

Look at your work and I think you are one of the greatest
Kevin in atlanta

Thank you, kevin.

_____________

Oh Charles,
Your poetic sensibilities are over the top, but greatly appreciated.  We peaked in the crate today and as anticipated the screens and gate are works of art. So beautiful - they will have a happy home here.
Andrea Francesca of Reno

((**Note:   A series of gates and decorative panels were shipped to a residence in Reno, NV in 2008.  With the shipment en route, Charles sends the following note to Andrea Francesca of Reno:
"She sits on her porch in the biggest little city in the world, staring into a sky as blue as a cerulean swatch, waiting. As it draws near, she san smell it, sense it, and when it arrives at the FedEx dock across town the anticipation threatens her. But she waits, watching her clock, waiting for their call to schedule the arrival at her home, and that night she doesn't sleep, overwhelmed with the fritters of being united with what is rightfully hers." )

A year later Charles made a trip to Reno, to play golf and photograph the site of the above project, and attend a dinner party at the same address that night.
In attendance was a the hostess' mother, a woman of 88 from prague who spoke of living in prague when Hitler arrived, and compared this to five years later, when Stalin arrived.  Also present was another women about the same age who spoke of her and her husband who worked on the Vegas strip in 1954 as a spanish dance act, and years later, performing in Havana in 1959 on the night Castro came down from the hills to overthrow Baptiste.  Oral histories at their very best.

____________

hi. i saw a beautiful garden gate in my cottage living magazine. it was on page 53. it was the middle picture on the right side of the page. i didnt see this gate on your web site. i would like to know if i could purchase one like this. thank you .

I know nothing of Cottage Living Magazine and must confess that the gates occasionally appear in various publications without anyone from that publication bothering to give me a heads-up. 

____________

Charles,
Very, very impressive. I live in Penngrove, have been a carpenter for 16yrs, but have never seen nicer gate and fence designs
Greg

TREEHOUSE INQUIRIES
(**Note:  We have since removed the treehouse from the CPW site.  One can only imagine, but the amount of emails regarding this treehouse far far outweighed all the other products combined.   Why is this?  The simple odd-ball comments, but also requests to design and build treehouses from all over the world and to include a 4-star Four Seasons in Indonesia who wanted 12 single-room treehouses set in the mangoes with counter-weighted lift and all the amenities that would warrant 4-star prices.  The Treehouse was a labor of love, and remains in working order somewhere within Sebastopol, CA. a good 15 years after its completion.

____________

Thursday, March 18, 2004
I would like to live fulltime w/ 2 cats in a treehouse, somewhere in Northern California. I don't have land yet. I don't need a big house. Do you build them? Is this doable? How much will it cost?
Betty

Dear Betty.
Is it the law, or texas, that has you opting out for this fantasy life? In Northern California, we do not do Busch, and the law, well...the law bends like straw in a hurricane. Life in a treehouse would put you more or less squarely within the median expectations.

Oh, your question: No, probably not. It is doable, and permits are available, but designing and building treehouses is, for me, something more of a pastime that an occupation.
Charles

___________________

July 19, 2004 6:26:36 PM PDT

I found your site while looking for a cool tree house for my 4 1/2 yr old son.  He loves Swiss Family Robinson. Wanted to let you know,Very impressive tree house!
Carole Carole

Carol,
A s a kid, I was in love with the movie Swiss Family Robinson. I thought if I could manage a shipwreck, and enough tools and supplies, I  would be close to heaven. So nice that there are still boys out there with a similar vision.
charles

___________________

October 4, 2004 10:22:42 AM PDT

Dear Mr. Prowell,
I came across your work on the internet. You are an artist with wood,   and your work is a pleasure to the eye. Loved the tree house. Thanks for the visual delight. Sincerely,
Tiiu

Thank you Tiiu,
It is odd how many acknowledgments I receive on the treehouse. A playful, rather funky little project that seems to have caught the fancy of so many visitors. The treehouse itself has become, over the years, a haven for budding young hormones with the neighborhood kids as they move through their teen years. What they do up there---well, I dont want to know what it is they do.
Charles

Oct 8, 2004, at 3:41 AM

Dear Charles,
Glad to hear the treehouse is being put to good use. I guess treehouse
fantasies never die. It's nice that in this day of technology and fast
track living, some things continue to inspire a sense of child-like wonder
and longing.
All the best,
Tiiu

Tiiu,
Well, just so much response on this silly tree house that I've composed reasons why.

Why a treehouse appeals to both young and adult alike:

1) Elevation.
We like to be raised from the day-to-day goings on. Not as in a second story house, where the second story remains connected to the real world by a ground floor, but suspended and cantilevered over the ground and often with the only access controlled from above. Here, we have a retractable ladder and a counter-weighted carriage to provide us with a true sense of being beyond reach. Perhaps today more so than ever, surrounded by cell phones and internet and all the various forms of staying in touch and keeping informed, there is an appreciation for being out of touch.

2) Whimsy
The playful architecture of a treehouse departs from the more serious grounded surroundings of everyday life. Things are done differently. Rules are suspended. (Thatched roofs. Tree limbs penetrating through the floor,. Turret ceilings. Functional and multi-purpose furnishings and interior design more similar to the escape-mode of a sailboat or an RV.).

3) Inventiveness.
Together, the above features combine to inspire a departure in behavior and thought. You don't take your laptop to work on the annual sales spreadsheet, but more, perhaps, to write a story, or a poem. You paint, you play card games, you meditate, you smooch, you read, you think. You escape.

________________

CHARLES, DO YOU MAKE SKINS FOR SIDE BY SIDE FRIDGES (CLEAR PINE?) OR AN IDEA FOR A LAGUNA BEACH, CANYON TREE HOUSE IN 1972 BUILT BY A BOAT BUILDER. RESPECTFULLY, ANNIE AND DAVE
ANNE AND DAVE

Dear Annie and Dave,
Let me see here, you are asking for fridge face plates in clear pine. These, as I recall, are simply 1/4" pine plys cut to size. Surely someone more local to you can manage this.

Something about a 1972 tree house, presented to me in a sentence so butchered and ill-conceived that I can make no sense of it whatsoever. The tree house exists and you want ideas for embellishing what exists? The tree house itself, if it exists, must be interesting, as boat builders are a breed apart.
Charles
___________________

GENERAL COMMENTS

_______

Looked at your gates, casework, etc.  Really, really nice work!  Also read your interviews.  Your interviewer, Guy Beiderman, seems to be missing some gray cells... many, many gray cells.  (Just my impression.)
 
Nothing else.  Congratulations to you for very fine craftsmanship and wishes for much prosperity.  I'd enjoy meeting and talking with you... about gates and doors and mantles.. other stuff too.  Over coffee of course.  But I live in Oregon (near Ashland.)  Still, if you should find yourself around here sometime, give me a call.  I'll buy the coffee.  A muffin too, if you like pumpkin/chocolate chip. 
 See you (hopefully). 
Matt
 PS -- Just curios.  That picture of Frank Lloyd Wright.  What's he reaching for in his pocket?  A tape measure?  A gun?  A muffin perhaps? 

Well Matt, one man's gray cells are another man's golden eggs. Biederman's talent, I reckon, lies in the tomfoolery of a misguided genius that manages to have me saying things I might later regret, or deny.

Always on the lookout for coffee/cookie company and went to Ashland two summers ago for Shakespeare that put me to sleep instantly and forced to walk the streets of a town suffering from fatal quaintness.

Frank Lloyd Wright, like Somerset Maugham, lived and worked into his 90's and claimed to be 'active' to the end. Whereas maugham returned to Switzerland every year for a blood transfusion he was convinced was responsible for his 'active stamina', Wright, on the other hand, was forever searching for the inspiration of a hard geometry. But for billiard balls, as he simply liked how they rolled; this made for easy pickings, as we often walked down to Palace Billiards after a long day of hard geometry and he systematically overlooked the purpose of the game, far more fascinated by the how they caromed off the cushions than anything to do with pockets,
Charles

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March 10, 2005 2:12:04 AM PST

Geez!  I just realized I forgot to mention Bucky Fuller!  What a guy, huh!  Amazing man.  I once attended a lecture of his at the U of Washington.  He spoke for nearly six hours.  Not one single person left even to go to the bathroom.  Gawd!  I loved the guy.  I took him literally when he said all of Nature was constructed of equilateral triangles.  So I invented a unique kind of Mobius Band... made from nine equilateral triangles.  It does strange things.  Played with it for seven years.  Didn't tell anyone.  Then one day some guy on Johnny Carson is demonstrating "Executive Playthings."  One of them is my Mobiius!  Said it was discovered by some guys at Princeton.  Bullshit!  I found it first!  So it goes.  Fame and fortune--lost forever.
 
Had a good friend many years ago too, who was Fuller's Western Region World Game Conference Director (back in the early seventies... my hippie days).  My friend since died.
 
As I said, just forgot to mention this in my first message.  No big deal.
 Matt

Oh yes, an amazing man . . . who never showed up for class and when he did wouldn't take questions or hardly even talk to his lowly students and if he inspired you it's probably more because you were absolutely desperate for someone to lead you somewhere, anywhere.
charles

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Awsom designs.  Wish I were rich and could have you do my fences and gates.  have to go with the mundane.  Thanks for something to shoot for.
louise
"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough"

Thank you Louise.
I like your signature motto. I wish it were possible to do it right the first time. But life is fraught with mistakes and reactions to mistakes. Maybe resiliency is the best motto.

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Mr. Powell -
As a longtime fan of the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, you woodwork is the best I've found that matches the spirit of his works.

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Charles,
Just to let you know, my contractor read your installation guide and found it to be the best all around instruction on putting in and staining a fence he has ever come across.  Just thought you would appreciate hearing that.
Oh, and the gate and fence are getting all sorts of compliments from the neighbors.
Bob

Thank you Bob.  That your contractor actually read it--this in itself is a milestone. 
Charles

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I came across your website looking for ideas for a gate.   Your work is simply amazing. You are very talented.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Tracey

Thank you Tracy. Where would we be without inspiration. There is always something or someone to show us an otherwise unknown dimension.
Charles

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Hello Mr. Prowell,
 I want to thank you for your website. Your designs are proof that fences and gates can truly be works of art and craft. Your work has inspired me in my own thinking about fences and gates for my property.  We'll certainly be ordering soon, just not sure of the combination of gate/fence panels yet.
 Regards,
 Joel

Thanks Joel, and good luck with your projects.
Charles

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June 2010

Hello,

My name is Bella. My dog-parents love your company's fence panels and gates. They are young professionals buying their first home. While we are not poor (they feed me high quality food), they are not able to afford your fencing given their need to fence in an acre of land for me to roam. However, please consider contacting them with a price quote and pictures should your company have a sizable array of seconds or a canceled order that is built but not paid for. They can at least afford to fence the front part of our house with such nice fencing and should the order be big enough and the pricing competitive enough they would consider more. Thank you for your time and help with building me a beautiful, safe environment. Feel free to contact them here.

Signed,

Bella

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Hi There,
Just a quick note to let you know how much I wish you were situated in Sydney, Australia as we desperately require a couple of gates that are of your standard.
Love your work. Your workmanship is unbelievable, keep up the great work.
Regards,
Marcel

Marcel,
We occasionally receive similar notes from those in Europe. As it stands, we can ship to both Europe or Sydney at about the same cost to ship to NY. The departure is that it is approx 30 days rather than 7. But since the scheduling is approximately 6 weeks out anyway, an added month seems less of an issue.
Now of course a gate in Sydney would surely at some juncture require a follow-up trip to inspect the finished installation that would allow the trip in itself to be written off as a business expense, with a night at the Opera House a necessity to ponder in depth the details of the project.
Charles

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While browsing the Internet tonight, I stumbled across your site quite by accident and spent an hour marveling at your creative genius and tremendous output.  Your writing is superb, too.  You are a true Renaissance man.                   
A new fan, Sylvia Hatfield

Sylvia,
Clearing out old emails this morning and coming across this which shows no reply was ever sent. I apologize, as I look to answer every letter that arrives. Thank you for the kind words and I am pleased you found the site an enjoyable stop. Perhaps even more surprising, that you stumbled upon the writing. I so seldom receive any feedback on this so it's good to hear something.

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Hi Charles.  Thanks for reminding us of getting pictures to you.  The post caps are the crown jewels of our new fence and gates.

Ed Rawlings
(The above refers to the CPW two-tiered post caps, as well as Charles' endless pleas for site photos.)

Ed,
Crown Jewels?   Isnt that a PBS mystery series?  But it reminds me of our family silver, which was buried just outside Charleston as General Sherman got closer and closer.  It was recently donated to the Charleston Silver Museum, where it was on display in rthe main hall, for one whole week.  And then stashed away for eternity in the basement.  Had we known, well maybe it would have stayed in the family. 

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Just wanted to commend you on the quality of your work.  The gates turned out beautifully.
Terrific!
Don, Architect
Nadel Architects, Inc.

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Just want to tell you how much I've enjoyed your website.  Your work looks impeccable and your designs are just incredible!  Thank you for providing such beautiful photos and for inspiring me to buy a CPW fence other than a run-of-the-mill fence.
Nancy

Nancy,
Nice of you to write and I'm glad to hear you have enjoyed the site.
Charles

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Dear Mr. Prowell,
I saw your website and am wondering if you would be interested in taking on an apprentice. I am a highly motivated and creative individual looking for an apprenticeship with a local woodworker. Please see my resume and contact me at any time at: 555-398-2383.
Sincerely,
Valeriy

Valeriy,
Possibly. 
Charles

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Good Day to Everyone,
 I’m Hanna from Mauritius Island,  Just drop to say u that the web site is fabulous and the gate model is out of imagination.

Hello Hanna,
Very nice to hear from someone in your corner of the world and very kind of you to write with a few gracious words about the web site

(*Note: Our Hanna from above continued to write in intermittently, practicing her English.  We are so very sorry to report that she succumbed to cancer less than four months after her original email, listed above.)

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Mr. Prowell:
 
I just thought I would send you and email and let you know how much I appreciate your thought and sense of design when it comes to fences and gates.  I am a Landscape Architect who works mostly on commercial projects but I know a few very repuitable high end residental designers who I will pass your web address onto. 
 
I am not sure where you have studied or draw inspiration from, but your attention to detail reminds me of Japanese garden design.  I placed a link below  to a very good site which has numerous Japanese gardens, it give you an idea someday. 
Kylde

Dear Mr Kibler,
Thank you for your kind words. I followed the link you provided and spent an enjoyable half hour here, making a number of mental notes for future considerations.
Regarding inspiration: My own past draws primarily from a heritage of a father/builder; a grandfather/ furniture-maker; a mother who was a fine artist/ illustrator; an uncle who was an architect; and five years at Southern Illinois University studying architecture, art, and eventually design, under Buckminster Fuller. Somehow that all gets thrown in the wash, as you surely know, to whatever it is that defines us presently.
Best Wishes
Charles

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Oh charlie- the gates are incredible- what a work of art they are!!! we are truly happy and don't you worry, you will get lots of pictures. we have cleared away the tree that was in front of the house, unfortunately it was in the way of the driveway and we could not pull the car in because of low hanging rather large branches, so the gates will take center stage! i cannot wait! we will be moving in a week from thursday and expect to get alot of compliments on our gates. we will be sending lots of people your way. i can't thank you enough for getting them done so quickly, i am soooooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!! ------- annie

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Hi Charles
 I am currently looking for several items including driveway gates, beds, mantles, and other  furniture.
 I have looked on your site and like the items I have seen. How do I go about getting a price for buying and shipping some of the items to the UK. Do you have a general price guide, or do I need to specify each product?
 Look forward to hearing from you.
Regards, Debs

Debs,
It is currently practically impossible to secure an order. If you persist, however, we will get you prices on the specific gate your prefer, as well as the mantle and bed, etc. Plus shipping once an order is established.
Charles

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Hi Chas,
looking for inspiration for my mother  in laws gates and wasn't sure if i would find you again. I live in the san diego area and sent you pictures of the gate i built for my house, ...but, doesn't everyone send you pictures of "their gates"?  How could you remember?
But your work is so wonderful. I wish that I lived next door and that I had your fence to gaze at rather than the ones that I look at. My mother in law lives across the street so that is why I want something "friendly". We are having her home renovated and I have to pic out stucco, paint and trim colors, I want something rich and classy in this old 50's neighborhood,,,i just don't want to make a mistake, Any suggestions on colors?  I am leaning towards a rich grey-brown with taupe accents and white.
 
Hope eveything has been fine with you. Keep making the world a delightful place to look at.  thanks
 
honestly basking in the light of your talent and genius I stand,
 
sissi  

Sissy,
My apologies but the name calls up only the faintest recollection. Unfortunately, i dont hang on to old emails much longer than three months. Are you asking for advice on colors? I'm afraid i dont recall the house or the pics you may have once sent, so I am of little use to you on this. And please dont bask in the light of anything or anyone but your own talents.
Charles

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See attached picture of gate that we would like to find out what it would cost to have made.
Thak You,
Lois

Lois,
We are into an arena of ethics, which most Americans seem to have lost track of beginning somewhere around Reagan's first term. You have sent us a photo of a gate, with the logo of it's original fabricator stamped in the corner.  We will not quote on this, and the ethical approach is to commission this from it's original fabricator.  

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Dear Charles,
I would like to know if a cat can climb these fence panels.
L.
Lisa

Lisa,
How would I know, for goodness sakes. What size cat? Are you harboring lions in captivity? 

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On May 5th, 2010,
You may wish to correct the spelling of "information" several places at the end of your website. It may well compliment the precision exhibited in the writing that
precedes it. Thanks! -Jim

Thanks Jim. Good eye. Oversights like those you mention are inexcusably sloppy. I hate to think how many more exist.
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Charles,
Sending along a photo of the gate that I thought you might appreciate.  Showing the remnants of last week's Hurricane Ike, where our fence (not one of CPW's, unfortunately), and half the garage are completely missing.  And yet your gate remains standing, practically unscathed.  Amazing!
Bill

Unbelievable, Bill.  And thank you for sending these along.  They would make for great marketing, toward those crazy enough to actually live in a hurricane zone.   On another note, I am truly sorry for what losses you have sustained and wishes for a speedy recovery.
Charles

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Beautiful work, I have been building fences for 12 years and have never seen such great work,   

Thank you for the kind words 

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Charles,
The crate arriving yesterday...I am stunned..Wow...stunning gates ...stunning
designs. you are quite a craftman. absolute genius...fantastic...beautiful..amazing.

Dear Alexandria,
One might assume you've composed the lower passage with a thesaurus in one hand and an alter in the other. And yet I'm flattered and will begin my day, this Saturday, buoyed by your kind words.
Charles

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Mr. Prowell,
I’ve been looking at your amazing work on your website. I’ve never seen anyone make a gate or fence with such beauty and creativity. I’d like to know, is cedar your primary choice for gates? Do you dislike redwood for a reason?
Thank you.

Pamela

Pamela,
Thank you.
My aversion to redwood is drawn primarily from it's environmental standing, in addition to the fact that my shop is flanked by two favorite friends: on one side a lovely palm tree with its fronds silhouetted against the blueness of the sky, and on the other side a 600-year-old redwood rising so far into that same sky that it seems to transcend it's earthly origins. The Redwoods, in my town, are the treasures of our heritage.  They've been around for thousands of years.  As trees, and not gates.
Charles

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On Mar 31, 2010, at 5:05 PM, David wrote:
Dear sir,
            I just spent the last hour looking at your craftsmanship. These are absolute works of art and I am amazed at the diversity of design.
           
                                    Regards, from a fan,
                                                David and Nancy Swetz

Hi David,
Taking a moment to see you're just out of school, and transplanted from Mass to SF with the timing of a terrible recession.  In school at Southern Illinois, where I suffered under the tutelage of Buckminster Fuller, I also finished in a recession (1972), and debated right up until the week before graduation on whether to relocate to SF or Boston.  Both being areas with a patronage that could appreciate and support innovative approaches.  Obviously I chose SF, and the odd thing is my youngest son has just moved to Boston to begin his 2-year program at North Bennett St in Fine Woodworking and reports after two whole months that he is never returning.  Hmmm.  We're off to visit him over the easter holiday.

But I remember something he taught us back then--Fuller-- about the talent, and the bits and pieces of inspiration drawn from others that feed that talent and eventually round out a recognizable, or signatory look.  How it builds from bits and pieces drawn from others and bringing them together like a scrapbook.  How that scrapbook segues into the concept drawings and if you had graduated in the boom years, there would be absolutely no time to develop this.  Spending an hour on a site such as CPW's in the heart of a recession is, I think, exactly what he was referring to.  

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April 2008
I am designing for Holiday Inn and Hilton and many more..
Please send me a catalog..
Thank You

CPW products and designs are in constant motion, while the work itself is approached by single veteran craftsman. Providing the designer for Holiday Inn etc with product quotes in line with global vendors is asking too much from us. We are not manufacturers and therefore seldom enter into the competitive circles of supplying our products to chains and the comparative costs of out-sourced manufacturers.
Charles

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Hi Charles,
I own Greenwich Fence Company in West Greenwich, Rhode Island and would like to discuss with you some of your work and ideas. I'm fairly young(23) and really trying to get a niche in my area as the best at what I do. Using mass produced, pre fabricated fence panels is not really my thing and I hope this attitude will help me build my business. Your designs are truly spectacular and no one can touch the work you do. I laugh when customers tell me that Walpole Woodworkers is the best. No way. Mortise and tenon joinery, custom panel fluting and functional fence design is
where it's at. I predict that I will be designing some of the most functional, beautiful and stable wood fences in the years to come. Write me back when you have a chance, I know you are busy. I tried writing you before and never heard back. Hopefully I can talk to you and get some ideas and guidance from a true pro.Thanks,
Mike

Mike,
My apologies for not writing back to your earlier letter. I try to make a habit of replying to all so imagine it somehow slipped away.
You sound like someone committed to a career somewhat more rewarding than what most of our competitors experience. How can I not be drawn to that conviction? The gates and panels were not an overnight acquisition; there were the years with call-backs and costly re-designs and all resulting in various amendments to the methodology to eventually arrive at a product that not only stands up on delivery, but for years to come. I receive so many inquiries regarding the procedures and techniques on the gates and panels (this week an offer from somewhere back your way from a homeowner wanting to commission a number of drive gates and pedestrian gates and arbors and with that investment would I be willing to explain step-by-step the techniques for the panels so they can hire their carpenter to replicate this over 450 running feet of fenceline. Unfortunately, I had to defer on the offer.
Your talk on design and business and the art of our shared interest, however, is certainly welcome.
Charles

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Mr.Prowell,
I have spent many an evening gazing at the beautiful work you do via your website.  I have a list of questions to ask before procedding forward.  A big step for us, but we are committed on your work.  Should I call or write?
Rachael

Thank you Rachael.  Whatever you're most comfortable with, the phone or email is fine.  I'll be here.
Charles

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Mr. Prowell,
Just wanted to thank you for your excellent craftsmanship on my two pedestrian gates. They came out great. Currently I'm the envy of the neighborhood because I decided to not go with the standard vinyl or rod iron gates. Once again thank you for a job well done, Hopefully I can drum up some business for you.

Gates did arrive in Honolulu via boat and the hardware showed up Friday (4-16-04) regular mail.
Dennis

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Hi, I just had to take a moment to tell you what a wonderful website you have to show your absolutely beautiful products!!! Wonderful design, construction and imagination. Bravo. Anita

Well thank you, Anita. I am always surprised how visitors take the time to extend the pleasantries of a simple kudo.
Charles

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Hello,
 I’ve been searching for fence panels or even a fence design like yours for years!  Do you have a distributor inCanada?
 Thank you.
 Carole Saint-Laurent

No, and while I'm on the subject; shipping to Canada should be as simple as one state shipping to another.  But not so.  The US has made trading with Canada so wrought with legalese and extraneous paperwork, in addtion to untold tariffs and duties, that only the persistant, such as yourself, are candidates for American goods.

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I was browsing your website and found all items "Artistically Beautiful."  May the Lord continually bless you to build, exhibit and share your magnificant works of art!
Bless you,
~NJ~

I think this must be a first.

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Hi Elliot,
Just wondering if there is any chance of a few photos of the completed gates?
Charles

Hey Charles,
We finally completed the landscaping and other accoutrements around the gates, so I’ll take one this weekend and send it along. Note that the gates survived our Hurricane Ike. Trees all around snapped like twigs. To give you an idea of the forces we had, the Sun Valley latch holding the double gates together was bent like a banana,
Yours,
Elliot

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Hi Charles,
I am surfing the web looking for fence/gate ideas. Just thought I'd let you know I love your work and am impressed by your web
site. Your web page is one of the best I have ever seen. It really works for you and the customer. What talent to be proficient in the oldest and newest tools known to man.

Allan,
I guess I hadn't thought of quite that way before. The oldest, and newest, tool known to man. Neat!

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Hey Chas
WOW!!! That is all i can say. Your work is absolutely incredible. Just
wanted you to know that your work is greatly admired. I love to look at
your webpage.
Have a gr8 day
Jeff

Well Jeff, I'll classify this one as a 'raving review.'
Charles.

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I wanted to thank you for sharing your beautiful gates on the web. They are gorgeous!  We will be finishing our landscape in a month, or so I'm lead to believe., and then ready for your work as a final touch
Carlos.

Thank you, Carlos.  We'll be here.

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Hi Mr. Prowell -
Your gates are beautiful ! I found your website on a internet search for “wood gates”. Yours are by far my favorites - and well made too and your website is great ! Do you think cedar is okay for a southern Florida climate?  it is very humid here.  If so, we are ready to order #33, which I love.
Connie

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i am in awe of our amazing work. my name is matt and i live in lagunitas. i build
outdoor structures and have recently been messing with a plunge router. do you ever
need help? i would love to visit you and to learn from you. you are doing all the types
of work that interest me. your work is spectacular! i am a photographer and
wannabe woodworker. i have done some shop work for a contractor in berkeley
building cabinets. my father is a landscape designer and i have built many thousand
feet of fencing, typically boring, but some cool designs. a couple of other interesting
structures. anyway, if you ever need a hand i have a flexible schedule. i would assist
for free just to learn from you. i don't currently have a computer so if you want to
reach me please do so at 555 488 9560  thanks, matt

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Hi Charles,
The gate was installed today and looks even better than I had imagined -- it seems to add a sparkle to the house. I can tell you that if I ever move I'll seriously think about taking the gate.
Talk to you soon.
Robin

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DEAR CHARLES, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! I HOPE ALL IS GOING WELL.I SAW MY PICTURES
ON YOUR WEBSITE AND THEY REALLY LOOKED GOOD. THE BEFORE AND AFTER SHOTS !!!
P.S. I AM CONSTANTLY GETTING COMPLIMENTS ON MY FENCE AND GATES. THANKS,
DAVID

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Hello!
I am a carpenter here in rural NJ and stumbled across your Webster. Just wanted to take a moment to write and express my appreciation for your work. Great designs and your execution is super!
Steve

Dear Steve,
Thank you for the kind words. That you are drawn to the web site tells me you're something more than a carpenter. Perhaps a carpenter of note.
regards,
Charles

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I just visited your web site and it is gorgeous, just like your work. Excellent designs, information and photos. I wish I could afford to have a fence put in by this company. The fence would probably last longer than my brick house! The people in California should appreciate your efforts. Congratulations on your talent.
Teresa
Knoxville, TN

Teresa,
I too wish there was a way to provide our products at a price everyone could afford.

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Hi. My husband & I live in S. Cal. in a small Craftsman bungalow, and I just wanted to tell you that your fences are really beautiful.  We have just completed a two year remodel and are now ready for a long-awaited CPW fence.
Have a good one.
Karen Cini

Karen,
Thanks for the photos.  A lovely home and grounds and I am honored to be a part of the final presentation.  We'll have your drawings posted within a week.
Charles

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Your company must be very proud. I am so impressed with your designs. Your work is the most beautiful I have seen. I would love the bowling ball arched arbor. Unfortunately that is impossible at this time, but I shall keep Charles Prowell Woodwoorks in mind, and direct people to your company.
Sandy

Thanks, Sandy Always nice to hear such lovely comments. The bowling balls will wait
Charles

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Your work is beautiful. promise me you will live a long and healthy life. I cannot buy one of your tables today, but hopeully, maybe as soon as next year, I want to. Thanks again for the information. take care,
D.

We'll be here, D
(**Note:  The above referrs to one of our trestle dining tables.   We removed the CPW Home Furnishings from the web site in 2008.  Because we were commonly scheduled out on our furnishings approximately two years, we have simply dropped the line.  Which is a shame because it includeds hundreds of original designs of the highest order, and yet not an order the profit margins of a normal business.  We will return with this at some juncture, but most likely as a stand-alone web site and not part of the current CPW product line.)

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Charles,
 While researching builders and fence designs, I came across your website and I can only hope there is a craftsman of your caliber in Durham, NC. I was amazed by your designs and impressed by the thoroughness of your website. Although it is logistically impossible for you to build my fence, I wanted to congratulate you on a fine site and thank you for the ideas you provided.
 Best regards,
Scott
Durham, NC

Thanks Scott.
We ship to NC frequently. And most projects are designed by way of sent jpegs of the site and specifications to almost any site plan. Don't give up so easily, Scott.
Charles

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Dear Charles, We live in Boulder CO. We recently bought a home here. There is a new fence on our property. While driving around I spotted a fence that I love. We checked with the owners and it is one of your fences. In your photo gallery it is #13. I certainly would have bought a fence from you, but since the fence is new its not an option. But, ours is not stained or sealed yet. This fence is beautiful grey with hints of pink and blue coming thru from the wood. Would you be able to tell me what stain was used,and did you do it or a local person. The house was recently sold so the new owners do not know. Thank you in advance, Suzanne

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Absolutely beautiful work! I must have looked at every page and love the creative and playful presentation of your website.
All the best,
Bernie Wire

Thank you, Bernie. The result of too many idle hours spent tinkering when I should have been in the shop, working.

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Dear Charles,
I have been perusing your web site for several weeks, admiring your work when I stumbled onto the Pointless Pastimes.  I absolutely laughed out loud over the Road Trip. The funniest thing I've seen in years.   And the Contributor's Garden is unbelievable!  I love how throughout the site there are these wonderfully delectable comic reliefs, like the Gate Checklists.  And the Imposter series.  What fun you must have. 
Lori

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July 6, 2007 4:10:49 PM PDT

Charles,
Can I go to your Chicago production facility and touch and feel your product?
The guy around the corner did a courtyard with a (parking) pergola, double drive gate, and ped. gate. It looks pretty good. Stained a whitish grey. Older local architect designed. Prairie looking. Finished two years ago…Frankly, beginning to show some wear in the joints even though there is almost no use of the drive gate.

I want to see and touch the product to verify that it’s beefy enough.
Mike

Hi Mike,
As a rule, I keep the public from the shops. These are woodworkers working, and not so geared for dealing with the interruptions associated with a showroom or a sales staff. We do allow folks to pick up their projects at the shops, rather than incur the expense of delivery, as well as satisfying what to many is an opportunity to shuffle their feet in the sawdust of the shop where their work was made. To some, this in itself is an experience, but the fellas are not answering questions or selling anyone on the merits of a cpw product.

So I must treat you the same as I treat everyone everywhere. You either know the difference between our product and the guy down the street, or you don't. If you're uncertain, then the guy down the street is the way to go.

If we proceed, we're still waiting for a decision on the design proposal sent along, as well as the two corner tie-ins as either brick columns or wood posts or CPW Columns.

<<Charles,

1) You don’t have to treat me like every other customer.
2) While you discourage it, according to your web site you will make exceptions
3) I won’t buy your product until I’m satisfied that it’s as good as it seems. I require that I see it and touch it. I wouldn’t buy anything for even $2K, anything – a watch, car, suit, house, boat, tree etc without first seeing it and touching it - much less a fence for $16K.
4) I don’t really care a wit about your production facilities. I’m not interested in a tour or and education.
5) I will come alone to offset your fears that I’m stealing your methods.
6) You put all this information on your site, including all the threats implied by your numerous patent pending notices. What’s so hard about seeing and touching your product? It might be exactly what I looking for. Why should I reinvent the wheel unless of course I could do it for half the price?

As you may recall, I grew up in Woodside, CA. and my wife is from Tiburon. I have a sense of carpentry. My fine motor skills suck. I’m a finance MBA. There should be many examples of your work out there. Can you give me some addresses?

…you know what? Fuck it…Keep your fucking product. You’re an arrogant prick. I’m not good enough for you. Save your bullshit song and dance. I’m not interested.

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Well, we'll pick it up and carry on and while maintaining the edge required for dealing with the rare Problem Child, nevertheless give some consideration to the accusation of arrogance as a less than appealing characteristic and nothing to be proud of.
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Feb 26, 2008, at 7:12 PM
I am a home owner in the process of building arbors, stringing wire, along with standing picket fencing. I came across your web site and was blown away with your product line.
 
The level of craftsmanship and beauty succeeded in lifting my project and thinking to another level. Great site!  

Well I reckon how there are levels of inspiration to all of us, but available only to those who walk with their eyes on the bend and not the ground at their feet.  So good luck.
Charles

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March 15, 2008 6:45:43 AM PDT

I just saw your new projects using plastic rods and you continue to amaze me. You were/are my inspiration to start in the gate building business here in Long Beach.

I have admired your work for many years and I couldn't wait any longer to tell you how impressed I am with your creativity and workmanship.

Thanks,
Lee

Well, thanks Lee.  For not waiting any longer and for the wonderful photos.  The house is absolutely gorgeous, as well as the recognizable gate and fence.  But also the white house next door looks to have some interesting architecture.  I think I appreciate architecture the way I appreciate people, in all their varying forms and styles.

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February 7, 2010 4:49:19 PM PST
Dear Mr. Prowell,

What an amazing website you have. Your work is that of a true craftsman. The best work I've ever seen.
I am simply awestruck.

Does your company ship to Canada.

Best regards,

Enrico Patafie

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Thank you Enrico. 
Is Canada the one to the north, the civilized country with the National Health Care plan?
Yes, we ship to Canada. There are various duties/tariffs that are paid by the consignee(you), but otherwise the shipping cost via UPS Freight is the same.
Your project would ship from either the Portland or Chicago shops, depending on what part of Canada you reside.

Charles

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On Mar 9, 2010, at 1:30 PM, Bill Barnes wrote:
You have a terrific web site and your products are beautiful. Your web site is interesting and very easy to get thru.

Thanks Bill.  Nice of you to take the time to send a note.