In mainstream Steampunk today most who are new to the genre, styles, and stories might think it is all about the recent movies, books, computer fantasy gaming, and the costume conventions. Granted, this would be generally correct, but that would be a limited perspective and interpretation of current Steampunk.

More and more Steampunk interior/exterior design companies are popping up across the nation and around the world, particularly in large metropolitan areas where numerous older homes exist. For example, there is Because We Can (BWC) architects in Alameda, CA, who specialize in all things Steampunk, even mobile-vehicular art. There is also Bruce Rosenbaum’s ModVic, an art and design company based in Thorndike, MA.

Outside of the U.S. there are numerous companies specializing in Steampunk art and design. There is a fine designer-artisan in Minsk, Belarus named Dmitriy Tikhonenko and his Steampunk company Metal Art Studio. His copper, brass, and bronze artwork is simply phenomenal craftmanship in the Steampunk aesthetic. Here is some of his work:

Continuing with non-American designers and artisans, there is The Rookery at Roughlee in East Lancashire, U.K. They incorporate “elements of rustic living and combine them with the industrial history of Lancashire.” There is also Steel Vintage Industrial Furniture Company based in Thornbury, Bristol, U.K. and offer innovative designs “in the industry of restored vintage industrial furniture.” Both these companies design and create outstanding Steampunk aesthetics for your home. Give them both a looksee.

Getting back to Bruce Rosenbaum’s ModVic company, over the last 10+ years he and his wife’s company have become one of the acclaimed marquee Steampunk designers and home furnishings business in the nation.

As Bruce describes his work from The Preservation Artisans Guild he belongs to, he explains:

ModVic repurposes and infuses modern technology into period antiques and salvage objects – creating inspiring, authentic, relevant, functional, fantastical and personal one-of-kind Steampunk objects and spaces for individuals, families, homes, offices, corporations, restaurants, hotels – for anyone and anywhere!

— Bruce rosenbaum of modvic, llc

Take a look at the completed projects of Rosenbaum and ModVic:

In 2007 Bruce and his wife Melanie founded ModVic Art & Design Company. They both stumbled into the field by refurbishing and recreating their own home into the first functional Steampunk house.

ModVic repurposes and infuses modern technology and cool gadgets into historic antiques and salvaged objects. We work with clients in the U.S. and internationally to design one-of-a-kind pieces, creatively combining eras and ideas to transform the ordinary into incredible Steampunk functional art.

— Bruce & Melanie Rosenbaum of modvic, llc

Here is Bruce explaining his entrepreneurial spirit in the Steampunk Aesthetic:

Rosenbaum’s creations have also been featured on PBS documentaries (Public Broadcasting Service, a non-commercial American network). The documentary? PBS’s American Experience “The Lie Detector.” Bruce Rosenbaum and his colleague Ben Cowden were asked to create the needed props and aesthetics for the film based on the early 20th-century interconnected lives of John Larson, William Marston and Leonarde Keeler in their independent efforts to detect lies and expose liars. They received critical acclaim for their contributions, recreations, and work for the film. See below.

ModVic and Rosenbaum have also been deservedly highlighted in Architectural Digest, the Wall Street Journal, HGTV, the Boston Globe, The New York Times, Wired Magazine, and The Chicago Tribune as well as featured on A&E, NPR, MTV, CNN, and Netflix. And here’s the really fascinating part of Bruce’s and Melanie’s ModVic successes:

This authentic 1876 former Victorian Church turned house is located in Palmer, Massachusetts, and is pure, all-out Steampunk inside while preserving the classic Victorian-Edwardian architecture and exquisite designs of the bygone Era kept alive. It is a dream home I wish I could imitate or closely follow in the footsteps of his imaginative industrial art. If you want a thorough look inside and out, you can view it to your heart’s content in the Netflix series “Amazing Interiors” (Steampunk Wonderland – Episode 8).

Due to the success of ModVic, Bruce is sought after around the U.S. and abroad not only on commercial or residential projects, but also to educate others in how to imagine, locate items for repurposing, design, and building Steampunk aesthetics through a Janusian Thinking process. This ‘combination of opposites’ helps resolve problems of repurposing while taking us back in time to reunite with the past, present, and future. I have to admit, Bruce accomplishes wonderful aesthetics with sublime flamboyance that Steampunk offers. Well done Bruce, very well done! Here’s to you with a fine brandy, raised and gently swirled in one of your contraptions!

“Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.”

— jules verne, around the world in eighty days

Live Well – Love Much – Laugh Often – Learn Always

The Professor’s Convatorium © 2023 by Professor Taboo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0