You may have noticed the new tree well railings around our trees on Folsom Street. Rainbow Grocery, always committed to making our corner of the city a greener and more beautiful place, commissioned a local blacksmith, Carla Hall, to custom design these railings to protect our trees and plants.

We had been trying for years to keep plants healthy around our trees but unfortunately the plants often got stepped upon or stolen. The tree wells also tended to gather lots of trash from the street and the trees would often get hit by cars parking along Folsom Street. So Carla designed and hand-forged 9 tree well railings for us in her distinctive style. The tree wells may look a little bare right now but our Ecology Committee is about to start landscaping them and in time they will be bursting with green leaves and multi-colored flowers. Not only will we have beautiful plants to show but Carla's railings are a piece of art themselves. Come check them out!

Carla Hall is a professional metalworker with a background in blacksmithing, welding and metal fabrication. Her work has been commissioned by architects and interior designers, and her sculptural works have been shown in galleries throughout the United States. She teaches blacksmithing and welding at The Crucible, a nonprofit industrial educational organization in Oakland. You can see more of her work or get more information about local metal arts organizations at Red Frog Metal Design.