Local firefighter and brother channeling patriotism into art with wooden flags

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A Central Valley firefighter and his brother are putting their patriotism to work, creating handmade flag wall art in their spare time.

"We're proud of what the flag stands for and we're proud to make that into an art form and give it to someone who feels the same way as we do," said Patrick Smith. He and his brother Matthew run FlagSmiths, a local company that specializes in creating patriotic wall art.

"They're not mass produced. They're not all exactly the same. It's wood, it's a natural product... it's not mass produced, it's made by hands," Patrick said. Where some companies use machines, the brothers create their flags by hand, even using a hammer and chisel to carve out all fifty stars.

The company was launched in 2015 and the brothers create the pieces in their spare time. Patrick is a firefighter at the Hanford Fire Department and Matthew is a student at Fresno State.

The most popular products are variants of the American flag that include the Thin Blue Line and the Thin Red Line, which honor fallen police officers and firefighters, respectively. They also create flags for other countries, state flags and more, all out of wood.

You can visit their website here, or their Instagram here.

For prices, click here.