Metallica
Metal, glass and wood evolve into high style at Veyko

The scene inside the cavernous Northern Liberties garage is a black-and-white snapshot: concrete floor, bare walls, metal, machinery. The floor is oil-free. There's no sawdust, trash or metal bits lying about. Guys are milling around assorted tools - drill press, band saw, lathe, the bender-a tool that does only one thing: bend metal. Richard Goloveyko, 33, bought it when Veyko landed their first large-scale commission: about 30 ultra-hip store fixtures for Barney's New York.
The Veyko (team has) a curious combination of education and career paths. Goloveyko was restoring foreign cars at 18; apprenticing in an iron forge at 20. By the time he graduated from Temple, Goloveyko was selling his aluminum and steel furniture designs at OLC in Old City. Stephen Verner, meanwhile, got a mechanical engineering degree from the U.S. Naval Academy. He met Goloveyko in 1995, when they were both graduate students in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. Even the hired hands working at Veyko have master's degrees from Ivy League institutions. But none of them chose to go corporate. "What I found interesting about architecture - creating highly detailed custom design and producing it - is what we're doing now," Goloveyko says. Veyko also collaborates with private clients to create custom designs. It recently completed this shelving unit with CD rack, stereo cabinet and rolling library ladder.