Eric Kaster, founder of this recycled-metal company in Portland, Oregon, understands positive impressions: His family manufactures the positive impressions known as industrial patterns, like those for the propellers at nearby Bonneville Dam. Industrial pattern-making requires an ability to think inside-out as well as serious math and engineering skills. Kaster achieved the rank of journeyman at 22, then worked as an artist--painter, sculptor, photographer and graphic designer. He and wife Sattie Clark, Eleek’s marketing director, did not know when they resolved to spruce up their house that a green business would be born. Eleek’s cast metal sinks, carved decorative hardware, switch plates and drawer pulls, lanterns, pendants and sconces have real hand-hewn magnetism. Kaster found that time spent in a vibration tumbler imparted his recycled aluminum tiles a smooth, river rock-like finish, a quality he emphasizes with strings of silicon grouting for a nearly seamless appearance. (They’re also stain-proof and fingerprint resistant.) But what people really respond to, Kaster reports, is the warmth of the tiles: "Even though they’re metal," he says, "they really never feel cold because they quickly adapt to the room’s temperature. That’s always a nice surprise." Tiles are pre-cut for standard-size cabinets; customizable options include sizing, tinted powder coats and earthy, artist-applied patinas. Kaster, working with a Peruvian master woodcarver, will introduce by year’s end a new line of six-inch-square, deeply patterned wall tiles in aluminum and bronze. (via Elements of Living)

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