Second Nature

R. Mended Metal's workshop

Three years ago, REBECCA and ROY TAYLOR both left twenty-year careers to pursue their creative intuitions and open R. Mended Metals, a family company specializing in hand-fabricated artwork, furniture, and structural pieces made from a gamut of materials including stainless steel, old barn doors, repurposed industrial materials, driftwood, and oyster shells.

The ‘R’ stands for Rebecca,” she says.

“No, it stands for Roy,” Roy counters. “Well, I guess it depends. If you’re calling to complain, then it stands for Rebecca.”

“We have a good time batting that back and forth,” Rebecca says.

She worked for over twenty-five years as a physical therapist, a career that comes in handy during the logistical aspects of furniture design.

“I can tell if a seat if going to promote good body mechanics or if it’s going to make you slouch,” she says.

Though she uses the technical and interpersonal skills from her previous profession, the diversity of her work at R. Mended Metals satiates her desire for creative development and keeps her away from a monotonous workday.

“Every day is different,” Rebecca says. “From meeting with clients to marketing to going out to job sites to see where our products will fit in someone’s home or business, day-to-day always brings a wide variety of tasks.”

Roy spent twenty years in the scuba diving industry as the co-owner of a local dive shop. A career in the industry as well as an educational background in marine biology heavily influences some of the art pieces created at R. Mended Metals, whose studio is off Market Street near Gordon Road. Along with trophies for various fishing tournaments, the company creates an array of stainless steel fish for wall decorations and additions to furniture pieces.

“I have seen a lot of the fishes that we create out in the water, so I can make them look how they really behave in nature,” Roy says. “If we moved to the mountains, I would have to expand my repertoire and make stainless steel horses or something.”

The wife-husband team specializes in custom orders, making each individual creation different from the one before.

“You can come in with a cocktail napkin with a pencil drawing on it, and we can take it and figure out how to make what you’re looking for,” Roy says.

Though R. Mended Metals custom creations have been successful, one of Roy’s early visions has yet to pass the prototype phase, tucked away in the raw storage shed collecting dust.

“When I was first getting started, I wanted to try something different. I made a six-legged barstool, and it’s still here obviously,” he says, laughing and shaking his head.

Rebecca and Roy handpick the raw materials they use from their coastal surroundings to fill their storage bay. The couple as well as the family dog, Buttercup, walks along rivers in Eastern North Carolina, collecting driftwood for their upcoming projects.

“Driftwood wall sculptures are automatically unique because you will never find any piece of wood that’s the same,” Roy says.

Several years prior to the creation of R. Mended Metals, while the couple still worked in their previous careers, Rebecca came home with a bag of driftwood after a weekend away to Bald Head Island.    

“She didn’t wash them off or anything,” Roy says. “Sand was just raining out of these bags, and they sat in our garage for two-and-a-half years, but she kept saying she wanted to make a driftwood mirror.”

Finally, the couple created a mirror framed in the found wood, and the piece sold immediately at their first showcase.

“Rebecca’s creative side was working long before I ever dreamed we’d be doing this type of work,” Roy says.

One of R. Mended Metals signature lighting fixtures and current top seller is its custom-made oyster shell lights. The couple recently finished creating all the oyster shell light fixtures for The Bridge Tender restaurant in Wrightsville Beach – their biggest order to date.

“We don’t use shells from someone who just had an oyster roast,” Rebecca says. “We go out to the Intracoastal Waterway and get the shells that Mother Nature has washed.”

The handpicked shells that meet the criteria of the project undergo a four-step cleaning process before they are drilled and attached to the light fixtures.

 “When it’s a sunny day, and we’re out on the boat finding oyster shells, we have to remind ourselves it’s work,” Roy says. “But when we get home and start bending and grinding metals for the light fixtures, there is no need to be reminded.”

To view more of photographer Terah Wilson's work, go to Timelessfotographie.com/blog/about/