What's New? Our latest creation is on it's way to a restaurant in North Carolina. This beautiful handcrafted fish lamp is made of copper and designed and fabricated by Gary. October 2008

 

Hatfield sheet metal firm, pressed for space, to expand
BY JENNY HALL STAFF WRITER, Daily Hampshire Gazette

[ Originally published on: Monday, March 05, 2007 ] HATFIELD - Chances are, most people around here have seen something made by Industrial Sheet Metal, but may not have known where it came from.

For example, the copper fountain at Smith College off Bancroft Street was designed and built by ISM, as was the copper cupola on the Allenby family's home in Chesterfield. George Zgrodnik's new custom-built chimney cap in Hatfield and the gorgeous polished bars, tables and countertops at Del Raye's and the Brewery are also the handiwork of ISM.

Those metal diamond-patterned equipment boxes you see on fire trucks? ISM makes those too.

In fact, ISM will even supply the proverbial kitchen sink. Well, not just any kitchen sink. But if you're looking for a high-end custom- built stainless steel sink insert with matching polished cabinets, sleek countertops and stove hood, ISM owner Gary Galvagni's your man.

Now, Industrial Sheet Metal, the custom metal design and fabrication company at 9 West St., is poised to expand its facilities by building a 1,500 square foot addition at its 9 West St. workshop and office building. The 24-by-60-foot addition, to be constructed on the west side of the building, will increase the floor space by about a third, and give the business much needed storage space, according to Galvagni, who owns the business with wife Dianne.

"It will streamline our operations considerably, and give us a place to store equipment and metal we currently keep outside," according to Galvagni.

ISM produces a wide range of metal products, including breechings (collector pipes for exhaust) for boilers, industrial metal storage boxes, custom-built kitchen installations, tables, railings and hardware for construction. The business also oversees Vision Machining, a decorative machinery and custom-tooling business owned by Ross Poudrier.

Galvagni says most of his customers some from within a 20-mile radius. Regular customers include HB Smith in Westfield, Hardigg Industries in South Deerfield, Hillside Plastics in Turners Falls, Kollmorgen in Northampton, Wright Architectural Millworking, Amherst Woodworking and all five colleges.

West Street neighbors Diamond Recreational Vehicles and Long View RV Superstore are customers, as well as next door neighbor Stiebel Eltron, maker of energy-efficient water-heating products and thermal and solar collection units. ISM has begun producing the brackets used to mount thermal solar panels on roofs.

GORDON DANIELS These are two metal lamps made at Industrial Sheet Metal in Hatfield.

 

"We do pretty much everything," says wife Dianne. "Contractor and plumbers. Farmers come in and ask us to repairs their tractors."

Often, she says, Galvagni will get a faraway look in his eyes when a customer describes a project. "I'll ask him about it and he'll say he was already designing in his mind."

Galvagni says 99 percent of his clients come through word of mouth after 35 years in business. He's been in metalwork all his life, first on aerospace and industrial products for Hamilton Standard - known as owners of Sikorsky Aircraft and Otis Elevator - then as helicopters repairman in Vietnam.

He started ISM in 1981. Wife Dianne is secretary, scheduler, financial officer and chief bottle washer. "The Heineken bottles, that is," she says laughing. "No, I pay the bills, take the money, talk to customers, you name it."

For fun, Galvagni creates whimsical projects: copper finials, weather vanes, flowers, lighting and gadgets. Two lamps on display across the street at a branch of the Bank of Western Massachusetts on West Street are Galvagni's work. One is a lovely copper fish mounted on the wall whose slitted gills radiate a warm light. The other is a table lamp, a cubist composition liberally spattered with red, yellow and cream paint. "My tribute to Jackson Pollock," Galvagni jokes.

"We've done well," he says of the business. "We allow people to circumvent a lot of the more traditional design routes and get the job done and done right. People come to us, we work with them to get the product they want."