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Kentucky contractor fabricates structure for Las Vegas hotel

The late artist Roy Lichenstein once said, "Art doesn't transform. It just plain forms." And officials at Harpring Inc. in Louisville, Ky., know that some art is harder to form than others.

For the past 10 years, the company has been lending its expertise and fabrication skills to several local and national metal artwork projects, including the restoration of the famous twin spires at Churchill Downs in Louisville (see "Riding out the storm," October 2004). But according to Kevin Harpring, director of GCH International and vice president of its subsidiary, Harpring Inc., the company confronted its biggest challenge when it took on the making of a 40-foot-long and 16-foot-high steel sculpture.

That sculpture is now in Las Vegas where it is on display for guests at the new five-star hotel Aria, part of the 16 million-square-foot, $11 billion CityCenter development owned by MGM Resorts International.

History

When it comes to sheet metal projects, Harpring Inc. has seen and done it all. The company was founded in 1945 by Arthur C. Harpring as an HVAC business. In 1979, Kevin and his brother Mike Harpring bought the business from their father and started to diversify the projects the company was involved in.

The diversification really took off in 2004 when Harpring Inc. merged with Louisville-based machinery manufacturer Griffin, and engineering and sales company Griffin Cardwell out of Fleet, England. The three businesses formed GCH International, and according to Harpring, the merger provided the 65-year-old company with the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, including metal artwork.

"The MGM (project) is the culmination of years of doing artwork," Harpring said.

He also said that the $1 million project is the single-largest art project the company has ever worked on. If it had not been for Harpring Inc.'s experience in metal art projects, the Vegas project might not have happened, he added.

It all started when the George M....

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