Art from master of heavy metal
Stego Parker is transforming scrap metal into beautiful functioning pieces of art. Sally Clifford watches him at work. Main pictures by Simon Hulme
STEGO Parker’s philosophy is simple: “Truth to materials – if it is made out of wood leave it as wood, don’t paint it, and if it’s metal leave it as metal.” This ethos is demonstrated through his appreciation of the salvaged agricultural timber and cast-away industrial and engineering parts he works with to create magnificent eye-catching pieces.
Car parts, from wheels to bicycle bits and all manner of metal including excavator tracking chain and reinforcing bars with a natural patina previously used for concrete have been de-constructed and re-created into functional, practical pieces or eye-catching public works of art.
Braziers hand-crafted from truck wheels and fire pits are among the most popular commissions Stego has produced since turning his passion into a purposeful pastime. Creative Metal Salvage is the culmination of one man’s imagination combined with four years of study through a National Diploma and HND course to make sense of all the ideas Stego has meticulously detailed with drawings and jottings in a series of notebooks he has carried with him for years – and keeps adding to as more inspiration comes to mind.
“It changes everything when you are taught. We had to use a design strategy, do research and we had to do a lot of drawings,” says Stego, referring to his studies. Absorbed by the natural environment, Stego’s 20ft square workshop on a rural estate near Ripon, North Yorkshire, is surrounded by woodland, a walled garden and beautiful countryside providing him with instant inspiration for his craft which began transforming plough parts.
His love of farming and working outdoors was inherited from his maternal grandfather who ran an olive plantation in his mum’s native Pathos in Cyprus.
“I enjoy tractors and being on the land, working outside,” says Stego, who has worked on farms since leaving school. His enthusiasm to create was encouraged as a child. “When we were children we were encouraged to make things out of cardboard boxes and use domestic rubbish.” Bogeys and go-carts