"I am turning knives, forks and spoons in to metal sculptures," says former welder

The Kippax home he shares with his wife Vicky is a showcase for his art trail. Beginning in the hallway, the ornate stag’s head – Darrell’s latest design as he ventures further into wall art – features antlers fabricated from intricately cut and welded tent tubes. Coffee and soup spoons – specifically chosen for their varying shapes and sizes – create the eyes, ears, cheeks and nostrils, and beautifully patterned knife, spoon and fork handles shape the neck and chest.

Mounted on a beautifully shaped piece of wood, crafted by his woodworking pals, Darrell’s latest art work is competition ready – created for submission to Art Unlimited, the independent art gallery in Bridport, Dorset, where he has been showcasing his work for two years.

More of Darrell’s designs come to life in the living room. The elegant angel candle holder, her wings, re-shaped and re-purposed from catering trays, are outstretched from her pepper pot body. “Somebody asked me if I could make an angel,” says Darrell.

Vicky loved the commission so much he made one for their home which is lit to celebrate birthdays and in memory of lost loved ones. It was Vicky’s encouragement that led Darrell to set up Olsen Metal Art eight years ago. Before launching his own business, he worked as a welder and fabricator for various companies after gaining the relevant skills and experience through a YTS apprenticeship scheme.

He’d loved drawing at school but never pursued his art and spent his formative years and working life welding staircases and coach building in his home city of Leeds. It was Vicky’s request for a junkyard art dog for the garden that peeked Darrell’s interest in metal art in 2015.

“Every day is a stepping stone to where you want to get to,” he explains. Rufus, Darrell’s first design, has stood the test of time. Crafted from bits of scrap he had to hand, the rustic nodding dog was fashioned mainly from a fire grate and ash pan and stands proudly beside Darrell’s workshop. Penny, their other metal pet, is a nut and bolt dog featuring a sugar bowl and tea strainer for a snout.

A dainty yet strikingly beautiful Robin stands on the fire place – its vivid red breast made from hand-painted spoons and its neatly folded wings are forks. “It takes about 10 hours to make a robin,” says Darrell.

Perched on the dining table is another feathered friend. The Parrot centre-piece has been sculpted from the iridescent knives, knife handles and spoons which serve as a colourful and eye-catching feature of Darrell’s designs. The detailed perch on which it stands is one of a range of redundant surgical implements Darrell uses in his work. An urn lid serves as its stand and incorporates a mirrored surface. Darrell explains experimenting with different sanding and polishing techniques creates a ‘smoke and mirror effect.’

“I put a lot of time and effort into the tiny details,” he says. Parrots take plenty of patience, he says, so much so he only tends to make two a year and has made nine since he began his business. Gravy boats, serving spoons and catering trays have been transformed into owls. “I try to use stainless steel. It is not a forgiving metal but I am used to working with it and it doesn’t rust – unless someone says they want something to rust,” says Darrell, referring to the commissions he has created and sent around the world. America and Australia are the furthest destinations his pieces have been posted to since he began profiling his work on his website. Sharing his work on social media platforms such as Instagram, increased his audience to several thousand followers who can watch him at work when he posts videos from his workshop. Through his social media presence Darrell discovered a supportive community among his fellow creatives and many have become friends.

One inspired him to create the chameleon – another wall art Darrell welded from the bicycle bits his fellow creative sent him to experiment with his designs. The different types of metal mesh from potato mashers also feature in the chameleon wall art.

Plucked from another surface within the living room, the Highland cow is, perhaps, the most challenging cutlery creation Darrell has attempted so far. Its strikingly colourful coat of 54 iridescent forks were welded together in the technique Darrell uses in his work. TIG Welding (Tungsten Inert Gas) he explains uses electricity to melt and join the metal pieces together. Turning the Highland Cow over to further explain the detail and design, he says the chassis – fabricator terminology for body – once served as a cocktail shaker and is one of the many stainless steel items his parents have picked up from the charity shops they frequent to replenish Darrell’s stocks.

Dessert spoons; tea strainers; flasks and sugar bowls are just some of the cutlery consignment contained in the stacker boxes neatly arranged around Darrell’s workshop where he brings the animal images and inspiration he sees to life. “They are like a 3D jigsaw but you have to put them together in the right order,” says Darrell, referring to the organised bundles of cutlery laid neatly on the work surface. Here he demonstrates some of his kinetic metal art. A gentle twist of the sculpture powers the pair of tiny planes, made from petrol lawnmower spark plugs, as they fly a circular route through the air.

Flicking through further designs on his phone, Darrell produces the image of the hare character he created and showcased at one of the local craft markets he has attended. Some of his designs are also on sale at The Handmade Gift Shop in the Piece Hall, Halifax.

Inspired by Alice in Wonderland, a pocket watch adding detail to the design, Darrell explains the character’s legs were created from shot glasses and its intricate coat and ruffle collar were cut and shaped from a stainless steel pedal bin. Outside Darrell’s workshop a delicate dragon fly, intricately formed from iridescent spoon handles and knives, clings to Vicky’s garden shed. Below the teapot bird feeder, further decorative designs peep out from the borders. A knife and fork feathered friend perches on the handle of an axe chopping a log sculpture. The soothing trickle of water from the solar powered garden feature draws the eye to another of Darrell’s works of recycled art engineered from his parents’ redundant central heating boiler and an old brake disc from Vicky’s car. “And I made roses out of the rest,” he says, referring to his sustainable attitude to reducing waste. “My main aim is to upcycle as many metal items as I can by creating bespoke, unusual and quirky artworks to last a lifetime.”

Darrell is currently putting templates together of items he wants to create including his dream guitar. “I would like to make bigger exhibition pieces eventually,” says Darrell. “I’m a spoon welder It is years of practice and it brings joy to people.”

www.olsenmetalart.co.uk.