Steve Seifer of Bellmore has spent the last 30 years fashioning beautiful works of art out of the same stuff you'd use to hook up your household major appliances.
A gifted wire sculptor who has developed a thriving side-business doing commissioned pieces, Seifer, who works a day job in the sales field, discovered his unique talent at an early age.
"I get asked why I started doing this, and my joke answer is that I didn’t like my braces,” he said. “The truth is, my best friend’s parents brought home a wire unicycle piece from vacation, and after staring at it for a while, I thought, ‘I could do that.’ So I got some wire and made it exactly the same.”
After making many more wire sculptures, each better than the last, Seifer, who was having difficulty finding a job at the time, decided to test the entrepreneurial waters by selling his work. However, he was turned down by a local department store due to being under the age of 18.
“I found a smaller store instead, and started selling them there,” he said. “And then the business started to grow.”
Soon Seifer found himself working his first Bar Mitzvah, creating wire sculptures on the fly for party guests. From there, he started to branch out to other types of events. Nowadays, he works a nine to five job, but he’s always busy on weekends with his wire gig, which sometimes even requires him to travel.
“I’ve been flown by clients to various out-of-state events in the corporate world,” he said. “I’ve been flown to Florida, California, and Philadelphia.”
His work usually finds him customizing pieces to his client’s requests, which usually reflect their occupations or hobbies. For instance, Seifer has made wire sculptures depicting violin players, nurses, movie directors, rock bands, and even proctologists.
“There are few occupations that I haven’t done,” he said.
To Seifer, not only does his occupation give him a distinct creative outlet, but it also provides fun and one-of-a-kind memories for his clients as well.
“I never took an art class in my life, so everything about my work is totally my design,” he said. “If you want a unique gift, or good entertainment at a party, give me a call.”
To contact Steve Seifer about his wire sculptures, visit his website at www.steveswiresculptures.com.
