Our Hollywood Story

In 2018, founder Adrian Ballesta stood on the rooftop of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, watching the sunset gild the Art Deco spire of the Eastern Columbia Building. A third-generation metalworker from a family of Barcelona ironmongers, Adrian had spent a decade restoring wrought-iron balconies and brass fixtures across Europe. But Los Angeles — with its cinematic light, its architectural audacity, its celebration of craft — called to him differently.

He sold his workshop in Barcelona, packed his tools, and moved to a 2,000-square-foot industrial loft in the Arts District. There, with a single forge, a vintage English wheel, and a notebook full of sketches inspired by the Bradbury Building, the Pantages Theatre, and the Griffith Observatory, BALLESTA METAL was born.

Adrian's vision was uncompromising: every piece — whether a brass handrail, a gold-leaf elevator door, or an Art Deco facade panel — would be made as if it were destined for a Hollywood palace. "We don't build railings," he says. "We build the railing that a movie star would grip before walking into a ballroom." Today, that philosophy drives a studio of 30+ master craftsmen, producing custom metalwork for luxury residences, five-star hotels, and landmark commercial spaces across Southern California and beyond.