Silver Metalist : An Artist Turns Steel Tubing Into Exotic Furnishings

Twenty years ago, Susan Landau did taxes for people in the entertainment industry. Today, she creates functional art. “I don’t do taxes anymore--except my own, of course,” says the accountant-turned-artist. “I prefer to work with the right side of my brain. It gives me so much more pleasure.”

Landau segued into art by becoming partners in an art gallery. When it closed in 1991, she was inspired by the artists she had represented to make her own wired steel sculptures. To improve the stability of her pieces, she learned to weld from a steel fabricator. “After three years of $55-an-hour sessions, the head welder told me I knew enough to do it myself,” Landau says. Sergio Palazzetti of the Palazzetti furniture showrooms selected her first major piece, a glass table atop three bicycle wheels, as part of his “Maverick” collection of designs by up-and-coming artists.

Since then, Susan Landau Designs in West L.A. has taken a decidedly Eastern turn. The artist credits her mother with influencing her new furniture and accessories line, which is called “Bamboo Series.” “My mother mixed antique Chinese furniture with modern silver and stainless pieces from Georg Jensen,” Landau recalls. “I’ve always loved Asian pieces, especially bamboo.”

Landau translates the plant’s woody canes into metal by welding faux seams on steel tubing, then polishing them with sandpaper. “I leave residue of the burn on the seam to create the shading that you see in natural bamboo,” she explains. Landau, who perfected her technique only nine months ago, already has a 35-piece collection of beds, tables, chairs, mirrors and lamps. “I love using a man-made process on an inorganic material to create an organic look,” Landau says. “It’s nature tweaked.”