CITY FOCUS: Artist’s customers embrace metal cuffs

In an art studio near the corner of Cress Street and South Coast Highway, the clangs of hammer hitting metal can be heard from within, like a modern-day medieval blacksmith’s shop, while a local artist is busy pounding away at his new pet project.

Custom Cuffs by Otterbach — sheet metal bracelets with personalized inscriptions stamped into them — is the new leap into the world of jewelry design and manufacture for artist and owner of Otterbach Contemporary Art, Dustin Otterbach.

Already an established artist because of his unique and stylish paintings on sheet metal using only a pallet knife, Otterbach came up with the concept for the bracelets after cleaning up in his workshop one day.

“I found two pieces of scrap and kind of tied them together,” he said. “I’m not into jewelry at all, but I was just wearing it on my wrist because I like steel and stuff, and that day I got like six compliments. So I started making them as gifts for friends or people who bought my paintings.”

Each sheet metal bracelet features a word or phrase hammered into them by Otterbach like: “One Love,” “Peace,” “Karma,” “Energy” and “XOXO,” which make the bracelets more personal, Otterbach said.

“They have a rustic look to them, and I think every word has a different meaning for different people. I think that’s what makes them so unique,” he said.

As well as the bracelets already on display, customers can request all kinds of different and personal designs or inscriptions.

“I made one bracelet that said a guy’s name in Korean and another one that basically went up this guy’s whole arm like armor,” Otterbach said.

His first attempt at selling them locally came when he caught the attention of the owner of Meeschka, a creative clothing boutique located on Broadway.

“Dustin came in and made a custom bracelet for her that said ‘Meeschka,’ and she was instantly sold,” manager of the clothing store, Marina Jackman said.

“We started carrying them over a month ago. The first batch we got were really popular, for both men and women,” Jackman said. “People are always really interested in them because they’re unique, they like the little comments on them.”

From that point on, Otterbach witnessed his bracelets take shape in a way he never thought possible.

“Within about a month and a half, I had Madonna, Damon Wayans and the lead singer of Korn wearing one,” Otterbach said. “Madonna ordered one that said ‘Confessions’ on it,” the name of her new tour.

The success of the bracelets has lead to a contract with LF clothing stores, a provider of unique fashion, which is now selling Custom Cuffs by Otterbach in the company’s 22 stores, located in high-end fashion markets worldwide, he said.

“My art took off pretty fast also, but this is something that is really getting out there fast. They’re really different, and that’s what everyone is saying,” Otterbach said. “Everyone who has them is getting compliments on them, and that’s how it all started. It just became a demand.”

For more information about Custom Cuffs by Otterbach, visit OtterbachArt.com or stop by his studio at 1294 South Coast Highway Suite D.