This sculpture seeks to challenge the viewer's understanding of materiality and craftsmanship. Although the forms have a likeness to ceramics, they are in fact welded steel spheres with black and white patina and a wax finish.
©Daniel Freyne
©Daniel Freyne
©Daniel Freyne
©All rights reserved
Daniel Freyne
- Metalworker
- Dals Långed, Sweden
- Master Artisan
©Gabie Silveria
Breaking iron rules
- • Daniel graduated in Fine Art from Gothenburg University in Sweden
- • He deliberately overheats or underheats metal to create cracks and fissures
- • His work has been exhibited in London, Edinburgh, Stockholm, Paris and Zurich
It all began on an open day for an agricultural college near Edinburgh. Daniel Freyne was 14 years old and after hitting hot metal for the first time, he was captured by the material and the craft of blacksmithing. He carried out a five-year apprenticeship with Ratho Byres Forge in Edinburgh, where he learned the ins and outs of the craft – from small traditional metalwork to large public artworks. After this, he embarked on his journeyman which took him to Germany, France, Belgium, Ukraine and Italy. Daniel took a degree in Fine Art at Gothenburg University, Sweden, as well as an MFA. Aiming to demonstrate the limitless potential of contemporary craft, Daniel seeks to challenge the viewer’s perspective of his chosen material by playing with the strength and fragility of iron.
Read the full interviewWorks
Photo: ©Daniel Freyne
Perceptions
Photo: ©Daniel Freyne
Layered bowls
This sculpture is made of stacked sheets of steel ‘incorrectly’ fire-welded together and then raised to create a bowl form. This series of work aims to capture the spontaneity, rawness and complexity of rock formations found near and around water.
Photo: ©Daniel Freyne
Transition
This large sculptural object is fire-welded iron, patch assembled to create the final form. Rusted patina and a wax finish give it its colour.
Photo: ©Daniel Freyne
Pressure
This sculpture is made of layered steel pressed under a hydraulic press. It has a lacquer finish. This series of work discusses the notion that nothing is everlasting. Something that is not commonly known is that the process of applying immense pressure leads the steel to crack. Daniel Freyne aims to raise the topic of the unpredictability individuals face over the course of a lifetime.
Photo: ©Daniel Freyne
Armoured vessel
This sculptural object is fire-welded and patch assembled to create the overall shape. The iron is rusted and finished with wax.
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