Blu Skillet Ironware is the collaboration of Patrick Maher and Caryn Badgett. Patrick has worked with metal for 25 years as an artist and blacksmith, and Caryn is a painter who worked in community development. After some twists and turns and even along the way, Patrick and Caryn started making things together. They found they shared a similar aesthetic in designing and creating objects that were both beautiful and useful - things they wanted to give as gifts or things they needed around the house, like a copper salt bowl, a steel blackboard and pans - a frying pan, a griddle, a pie dish...the list is growing! 

The pans made them want to turn that "making" into a business. There was something so satisfying and wonderful about cooking dinner in a lovely pan you'd just made by hand - not to mention delicious! So after some tasty testing and research into the making of carbon steel pans (which are 99% iron), they started Blu Skillet Ironware as a way to share the pans and other things they make at the shop.

They introduced the pans at the Ballard Farmers Market in the spring of 2013. The community was amazingly supportive and has been an integral part of the business ever since. They continue that engagement back at the shop with open studios and demonstrations of the process. To watch a simple piece of carbon steel disc and steel bar turn into a beautiful pan is pretty magical.