COMING 2025
2025 sees Bent Metal create exciting sculptures for public and private spaces.
Thirty years ago Period Home Renovator wrote Bent Metal combines “ the ancient skills of blacksmithing with a creative 20th century sensibility…(where) anything can be made in iron ……the work itself being cerebral as well as physically demanding.”
This tradition continues at the South Melbourne forge and David Wood continues to use his skills across:
traditional forging - hot and cold
the difficult and intense work of hand-shaping metals
repoussage to create any object or flora or fauna
and choosing and applying the right paint for the metal and space or creating a unique patination that he is known for.
David produces magnificent works of art that have an edge - from “elegant abstract forms…..playful and whimsical elements” to practical pieces like gates, which can also have a “ritual function as (an) entranceway of an enclosed area, barring and opening space.” (Mark Holsworth, Melbourne Art Critic, 2024)
Clients are welcome to visit David’s “unique pre-industrial revolution-style workshop” and studio upstairs.
Come see where “David works with his mind, heart and hands (to) make magic happen.” (Dr Marcus Bunyan, Arts Academic and Art Critic, 2023).
Sneak Peak
2025 sees the completion of the 25th anniversary gate for St Kilda Veg Out Community Garden; fabrication of an entry sculpture David drew and designed for the new Matilda housing estate in Donnybrook; a window grille inspired by a wrought iron art piece David savoured some 15 years ago at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (pic below inset to window grille David is crafting); a vibrant peacock design with handblown glass for a residential entry door; a Romanesque inspired gate, art deco inspired gates, more playful bronzes of Australian fauna, and much more.
