Born in 1963 in St. Louis, Missouri to a father who was an avid horseman and a mother who was an artist and designer, Philip Smith was destined to become a western artist of one sort or another. He attended St. Louis? Washington University, majoring in illustration. He then moved to New York City to work as a scenic artist, working on backdrops and sets for theater as well as murals and faux finishes. By 1989, Philip moved to Santa Fe to start a hand-painted line of furniture. Within two years he created his own Lost City Gallery on Canyon Road with a full staff of apprentices and employees. Throughout the next 10 years Philip refined his work and became a master craftsman in the trade of hand-tooled, floral-carved leather furniture and created his current company, Steel Strike Leather Products, Inc.

In the summer of 2006 Philip designed, built and remodeled a permanent showroom on the fourth floor of the Denver Merchandise Mart and partnered up with Tim McCune and Tim McClellen of Western Heritage Furniture to produce the Cattle Baron Collection Showroom. The elegant blending of the reclaimed wood and iron that Western Heritage offers with the tooled leather of Steel Strike has been a natural marriage for the two companies.

Steel Strike Leather Products, Inc. continues to grow and Philip continues to produce new, original pieces. He is proud that Steel Strike has become a collection and collaboration of a few of the finest master craftsmen around, sharing a vision of greatness, all of them sifting and sorting through their knowledge to create pieces that are stunning and original.