Britain is built on metal. From Ironbridge to the hull of the SS Great Britain to the park railings, this country’s heritage is inextricable from the history of metalwork.
Nowadays, the country is littered with stunning examples of industrial and artistic metalwork, many of which are laying dormant after being left behind by the technological revolutions of the last century. Every scrapyard in the country is filled with old parts, machines and components which can easily be revived and transformed into both artistic and practical creations.
Throughout my career, I’ve always had an eye for ways to turn junk into art. My coat hooks and door handles, which are made from recycled saws, have been particularly popular, as have my chopped trade bike flower beds, which make use of broken delivery bikes.
When I’ve been travelling, some of the most inspiring things I’ve seen have involved creative new uses for old metalwork. Among my favourites is the incredible Watts Towers in Los Angeles’s Simon Rodia State Historic Park, created by metalwork artist Simon Rodia over more than 30 years. This stunning installation is just over 99 feet tall, and is composed of 17 separate sculpture-towers made of scrap metal, pottery, and broken glass. This is the kind of work that really inspires me, and I’d love to get involved in something of this scale which makes use of the incredible amount of abandoned industrial and maritime equipment in the Waveney area. It’d be great to see a tower of reclaimed metalwork rising high over the harbour, don’t you think?
Whether you call it upcycling or junk-to-art, I firmly believe that any piece of junk can be transformed into something worthwhile, whether it’s a piece of welded art or a practical new use for discarded parts. In this blog I’ll be taking a look at projects – sometimes my own, sometimes by other metalwork artists – which make something special out of junk that would otherwise be left to rust away, so if you’re interested in the world of junk-to-art or upcycling, then watch this space.