Pete Mattila is an award-winning contemporary artist blacksmith who has been practising for over 14 years. He makes large scale, steel sculptures using the techniques of industrial blacksmithing combining a fine art education with extensive training in both ancient, and modern trade skills. The unique vocabulary of steel is at the centre of his arts practice. Ideas are translated through forged and fabricated forms.

Mattila’s work explores visual dialogues specific to the dichotomous characteristics of steel; both the rigid and fluid, the structural and the organic. While Mattila’s practice is firmly rooted in process and medium, the work also explores social and cultural aspects of making, the role of trade lineage and traditional hand skills in a post-industrial and information-rich society.