Giving It A Bash

June 16th, 2016

Kit and Ollie are a pair of metal bashing misfits with a dream of turning their medieval blacksmithing, bladesmithing and armour making enterprise Sparkyr Forge into an Adelaide Hills attraction.

Sparkyr Forge, which is currently based in Mount Barker, is quickly gathering a collection of cult followers who appreciate its hand made medieval creations.

Founder Ciaran 'Kit' Sparks is an Engineering student at the University of Adelaide. He has been teaching himself how to work with metal for nine years, but it was only when he moved to Adelaide from his home town of Mount Gambier that his hobby really took off.

"It started when I came to Adelaide for university and I started putting together a forge in a friend's shed," Kit said.

"I've always been building things things. I started doing metalwork in high school and I really liked it. Blacksmithing is a really natural way to move metal."

"I began offering lessons to people who wanted to give it a try and Ollieturned up pretty keen to learn. After working together for a while we decided to set up a shop with the hopes of setting up a brand."

Mount Barker local Oliver 'Ollie' Matters is possibly Kit's star pupil. Known to his friends as 'Finn', Ollie fell into the craft through his association with one of Adelaide's many Medieval Societies.

"I sort of fell into it when I bumped into Kit at one of the Medieval group meets," Ollie said.

"I was hooked from the first day and I have been doing this now for three years."

In the short time that the Sparkyr Forge has been running, these two enterprising young blacksmiths have made everything from Merovingian knives, parrying daggers and katzbalger swords to trammel hooks, nails and candle holders.

They have also had a bash at creating Medieval armour and camping gear for the Historical European Martial Arts and medieval community.

Now the pair are on the hunt for a permanent home for the Sparkyr Forge somewhere in the Adelaide Hills. They are hoping to establish a collective where blacksmiths and artisans alike can come together to practice their craft.

"If we could find somewhere in the Hills that would be ideal," Ollie said.

"It is a historical sort of place and the people in the Hills really appreciate aesthetics. It's also a convenient area because there are lots of little shops where we could sell our wares."

"We would love to set ourselves up as a bit of a tourist attraction so people can come and see the blacksmiths working."

Once they have themselves established, the two young blacksmiths are planning to go into producing more Medieval armour and swords.

Both men have big dreams for the humble forge. If they manage to expand enough, the pair would ultimately like to look into making props for film and television, similar to the Weta Workshop in New Zealand responsible for creating the props and costumes for the Lord of the Rings franchise.

"Basically the motivating factor behind us doing this as a profession rather than a hobby is a mutual and crippling fear of having a desk job," Kit said.

"Neither of us are suited to sitting in an office in front of a computer screen all day. We would much rather be mucking around in a workshop, swinging a hammer and making things – which apparently we are good at!"

Ollie agrees that a life bashing metal somewhere in the Adelaide Hills is a far more preferable occupation for him to any indoor job.

"If we could make a living out of this, we would be the happiest men alive," Ollie said.

To see more of Kit and Ollie's work or to commission a piece for yourself, look for Sparkyr Forge on Facebook or visit their online shop at http://www.etsy.com/au/shop/Sparkyrforge

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