“They don’t really get it,” said Philip Mortillaro, owner of Greenwich Locksmiths. “People just see it as keys welded together. But there’s a pattern. I think it shows how complicated our lives are. Each key has a story. Some of them have a name on them — ‘Katie’s Room.’ Others have the names of hardware stores long defunct on them.”
Mortillaro’s been cutting keys and changing locks for 31 years in his little space on Seventh Ave. South near Morton St. — but he’s also been making art with those keys.
It started with a door made of welded-together keys. Then he made a chair in his back yard in New Jersey, before he moved back to the city. Not content with that, he framed the exterior of his shop with a piece that used between 15,000 and 20,000 keys.
“People think that I have a lot of time on my hands and that it’s all about the keys, but it’s not,” he said. “I wanted to make art with repeated objects, and the keys were there — it was an obvious choice!”
Mortillaro, who lives in the Village, has always made art, but not always for himself. There was a period when he constructed pieces for other artists’ work, but that was ultimately frustrating. Recently, in the realization of a lifelong dream, he took over an adjacent glass-covered storefront where he has been producing even more ambitious sculptures.
He’ll get up at 4 a.m. sometimes, welding the time-consuming pieces before opening the shop, or late at night, between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Each key has to be welded in four spots, so a single piece can take months to produce.
Last July, Provenance Productions took notice and approached him about filming him for a documentary. The result, “Do Not Duplicate,” is near completion. Judging from the trailer, it will be worth watching. A Chelsea gallery opening is set for sometime in the fall, leaving Mortillaro with the task of setting prices for his work, which up until now had not been a consideration.
Considering the emphasis on Mortillaro’s creations, one might think that his day job might not be a primary factor. But the 61-year-old store owner loves what he does, and has ever since he apprenticed for a locksmith at age 14. He picked a spot in the West Village because, well, “It’s the Village!” He didn’t even consider anywhere else.
“It’s not as edgy as it used to be,” he mused, “but nothing is.”
Standing outside his shop, which happens to be the smallest free-standing building in Manhattan, he pondered his position after three decades of service.
“I know everyone in the neighborhood — I love it,” he reflected. “I have a sense of identity in the community. I’m the locksmith.”
Mortillaro welds each key at four points to hold them together in his creations.
