William E. Casper

J. Kyle Casper

Painting by James E Laster

Casper Design Services was founded in the 1970’s by William Everett Casper. ‘Bill’ Casper learned drafting in the Navy and had a life long career in the Tulsa Aerospace industry as a Tool Designer or ‘Jig and Fixture’ man. He worked on many interesting projects such as the Saturn V rocket and even earned an award from the original Apollo astronauts for his contribution to the moon landing.

In keeping with generations of Casper’s, Bill was also a skilled gunsmith, woodworker and knife maker. The tradition can be traced back to the civil war with drawings, journals and the artifacts themselves.

Kyle is currently restoring family hierloom woodworking tools from his father’s shop,

J Kyle Love for the Earth and our environment comes from several generations of native Oklahomans and their history.  During the Covid-19 break, he moved back into his family home in Broken Arrow had the opportunity to investigate much of the artifacts and learn the stories that had been stored there.

With that knowledge, Casper had a new deeper understanding of his own personal perspective.

Kyle is excited to stay in Tulsa, Oklahoma and continue this legacy and work.

The Casper story is one of both native and pioneering history, bound up in both art and poetry, as well engineering and metal works.

 A widely published and awarded poet, Kyle’s Grandmother Clare Laster wrote passionately about nature and our historical appreciation and difficult modern relationships. His love of language and questioning of meaning came from hours of proofreading her manuscripts.

in the late 1960’s Clara published the Tulsa Poetry Quarterly and her two children Jamie and Shari (Kyle’s mother) illustrated the covers and books. Jamie being an accomplished Native American artist and Shari, a wonderful abstract modern painter and master of charcoal drawings.

Tulsa Poetry Quarterly would often have architectural as well as indigenous themes.