Grace Douglas, owner of Grakka Metalworks, grew up in Deming, where she was drawn to nature from a very early age. “I’ve always had a pretty wild imagination. Like I’d dive down to the bottom of our pond and bring up clay and make sculptures, or I’d go out in the woods and make fun recipes with wild plants that I would want to share with my family,” she says.
A Child of the Woods
That sense of exploration and experimentation carried her through school and into college at Western and Fairhaven. There she studied ethnobotany, which goes beyond biology to focus on the beliefs and stories that different cultures assign to plants, and the ways they use them for fiber, clothing and more.
This formal education was a good match for her interests closer to home. “I grew up with the son of Linda Quintana, the woman who owns Wonderland Herbs Teas and Spices on Railroad Avenue. We were at her house for a Cinco de Mayo party one year, and suddenly it clicked for me that someone could be an herbalist as a job, and that’s how they could define themselves.”
Learning a Variety of Ancestral Skills
Douglas dove in, becoming Quintana’s apprentice, doing work trades, buying books, taking courses, and even travelling the state to attend conferences. Finally, in 2020, she enrolled in a Clinical Herbalism program at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. Learning about ways people can support their health and wellbeing with natural substances tapped into something in Douglas’ core: an interest in what she describes as ancestral skills.
“I’ve raised sheep and cleaned their fleeces, and carded and spun and then knit with their wool. I learned about hide work, and that was a great way to learn about taking apart an animal and preserving food, then tanning and using the skin for projects,” she says. Then, while she was working at the Breadfarm bakery in Edison, her manager told her that one of their regular customers is a blacksmith with a shop on Guemes Island.
Douglas flagged him down to ask about apprenticing, and while he explained that he is a one-man operation, he gave her his card and told her to give him a call sometime. She spent that summer fishing in Alaska, but the thought of blacksmithing never left her mind. The two of them hit it off, and Douglas would spend the next five years at Element Fe, learning all aspects of the trade from Andy Gladish.
Making a Name for Herself
Finally, Douglas started her own business, Grakka Metalworks, in September of 2024. While she has plans to branch out into everything from ornamental pieces to artistic projects, she is currently focused on getting her individually handcrafted knives into as many kitchens as possible. While she has vended in the Bellingham area, she has also been travelling throughout Washington, Idaho and Oregon to set up her booth at high-end art shows.
Setting up her knife displays among groups of painters, sculptors, and ceramicists generates a lot of interest and interesting conversations with clients. In addition to the stock Grakka Metalworks carries, she is happy to discuss commissioned pieces. “I like a challenge, and I like collaborating with people who have an idea for something, but can also appreciate an artist’s touch and let me add a little bit of myself.”
Grakka Metalworks Chooses Materials With Purpose
“The wood that I use for my handles is all reclaimed hardwood,” Douglas says. Hardwood was an intentional choice, since her knives need to withstand exposure to water and kitchen use, but many hardwoods are sourced from endangered rainforests or contribute to the deforestation of threatened forests. “It’s also been fun to know the story of the wood that I use. I have a friend who is a woodworker in Brooklyn, New York, and she sent me a couple of pieces of the old Coney Island Bridge. And old boats — it’s interesting to give new life to an old Bellingham fishing boat.”
She has also started working with G-10, a high-pressure fiberglass laminate, and Micarta, another laminate that uses various fabrics other than fiberglass. Douglas is also in contact with a company in British Columbia that collects used commercial fishing line and webbing, cleans and prepares it for artists to mold however they like. These materials offer a wider range of colors while still performing well in the kitchen.
Because of these choices, it’s not unusual for Douglas to combine age-old traditional practices with state-of-the-art elements to create truly useful art. Pictures of Douglas’ work can be seen on Grakka Metalworks’ Instagram page, and more in-depth information is available on her website. Clients can also reach her directly via email.
