A job shop for the creative brings in artwork orders from all over the world

Micah Gregg of Drop Metal loves doing anything that requires him to be highly creative. That’s the easy part. The challenge comes from balancing so many different jobs and deadlines. Images provided

It all started with a metal fish.

Micah Gregg grew up tinkering, building, or rebuilding anything with a motor. But he discovered this whole new creative side when he learned how to weld in high school.

“We had this really thin-gauge sheet metal in the back of the warehouse, so one day I asked if I could use it. I ended up making this metal fish. I hammered it out and put some big old bug eyes on it. As I was walking out of school with it, a teacher stopped me and said, ‘I’ll give you $100 for that.’ I was like 16 years old at the time, and was like ‘$100? Oh my gosh!’” Gregg explained.

That fish led him down a path to starting Drop Metal, a Huntsville, Ala., design and fabrication business. While he may be best known for his custom sign work around Huntsville, that represents only a fraction of what he’s capable of doing.

What's In a Name

After selling that fish, Gregg—still a teenager at the time—partnered with a local interior design firm, where he made custom curtain rods, plant stands, and small coffee tables. The more he made, the more he realized he could make.

After high school Gregg studied engineering at a local college, but found it just wasn’t a fit for him. He transferred to Auburn University and enrolled in the industrial design program, where he combined engineering principles and product development with creativity. He dabbled in graphic design and web design after college, but Gregg couldn’t escape the urge to return to metalworking.

“Metal is the ultimate medium, and I made the decision to make a living by making things out of metal.”

Originally, the business was Micah Gregg Designs. One day he was at his metal supplier going through the dumpster to find scrap when the owner of the business pulled up.

“He said, ‘We’re selling drop now?’ I asked him what he meant because I didn’t know what that was. He said, ‘You know, like drops from the machine.’ Immediately I knew that my business was Drop Metal. I went home and checked domain names and Drop Metal was available. I designed a logo—a teardrop—in like 20 minutes and here we are,” Gregg said.

Gregg may be best known for his custom sign work, but that represents only a fraction of what he’s capable of doing. “Tying the Knot,” show here, is just one example of the metal sculptures he’s built.

Embrace the Chaos

Gregg described his business as a job shop that focuses on anything creative. His work pops up all around Huntsville. He installed a decorative stainless steel globe at the Huntsville International Airport, made patio tables for The Standard Social Market, and fashioned bar stools for Phat Sammy’s. Outside of Huntsville, Gregg designed and fabricated apartment numbers for a 30-story apartment building in Delaware.

He loves doing anything that requires him to be highly creative. That’s the easy part. The challenge comes from balancing so many different jobs, from signs to home décor to commercial buildouts to, most recently, public art.

With only one part-time employee, things can get a little chaotic. But Gregg likes it that way.

“I like being able to juggle a lot of different projects all at the same time. It keeps everything fresh, and as weird as it may sound, it keeps me focused too. Whenever I can jump from building a bar to a piece of furniture to a sign, it gives me time away to think through a problem I’m not currently working on,” Gregg said.

After a hugely successful 2019, during which he completed his first restaurant buildout, 2020 was a different story. The COVID-19 pandemic essentially put an end to any sizable commercial projects he had on the horizon. That’s precisely when the retail side of his business took off.

Gregg’s Drop Metal Etsy shop, which has been around since 2010, features small home décor items for sale like custom signs, metal planters, customizable powder-coated wall hooks, midcentury modern wall hooks, address plates, furniture, and lighting. With more people at home, Gregg saw a huge uptick in orders. It couldn’t have come at a more perfect time.

“I just made the decision to focus on fulfilling orders and coming up with new products to sell.”

Orders are still coming in from all over the world. He also got a boost when West Elm, a retail chain that sells modern furniture and home décor, began selling six of Gregg’s most popular items.

“We get the order sheets, we make the product, and then we ship it directly to the customer through West Elm. I have always admired some of the products West Elm has as far as design, so for them to reach out and want to carry some of my stuff was super cool,” Gregg said.

Gregg described his business as a job shop that focuses on anything creative. His work is featured heavily in Huntsville, Ala., but also in other places too. This stainless steel globe was installed in St. Louis.

With the larger projects returning, Gregg has a few more restaurant buildouts on his schedule in 2022. He also is dipping his toes into the world of commissioned artwork.

“I have been trying to get into public art for quite a while. I’ve made some large wall art, and I’ve also been fabricating some large freestanding sculptures. I am working on finalizing a big commission piece that would be on display here in Huntsville.

“I’m just so excited and interested in getting more involved in public art. It’s such a cool way to connect with the community,” Gregg said.