“I was getting bored because there was nothing else to do, so I began to take up small projects to hone my skills,” says Saad, the brains behind IRONic, a project that creates sculptures (amongst other things) using discarded scrap metal.
Saad works in the R&D Department of a defence firm by day and creates edgy, yet brilliant sculptures in his spare time. Items from the recycling dump, ‘chor bazaar,’ and automobile spares form a considerable part of the raw material used to create sculptures.
The reticent ‘blacksmith in progress,’ as he describes himself on Instagram, reveals little, and doesn’t have an agenda. The room in which he completes his projects is full of tools, and everything else required to work with metal.
“I spend an hour or two, daily, working on projects for IRONic,” says Saad, adding that the better part of last year was spent learning new skills, and polishing older sculptures.
He feels that he works better with short-term goals, which probably explains why most of the projects, though incredibly intricate, do not take a lot of time.
His approach is simple. He has an end in mind, with a mental image of the final sculpture. It is the problem-solving process that is interesting. While working, he keeps his options about the direction of his work, open. Take, for instance, the “Scraptor.”
“I was planning on making something else, and then started working on another project, which eventually became this,” Saad says, adding that once again, all he decided, was to mount it on an old bullet headlight. Stance and proportion were worked out as the project proceeded.
Even though he has worked on a vast range of interesting and breathtaking sculptures, Saad has no personal favourites.
He gets an idea and then begins to work on figuring out the different ways to create the sculpture.
This is not a recent hobby. Saad has been working for over a decade now. He credits YouTube for being a great source of information, but also says that most of the instructional videos are made by Americans who use completely different, and better tools.
While this can sometimes be a problem, Saad has learnt to adapt and collects, curates, and even builds his own tools.
Saad doesn’t particularly enjoy creating commissioned sculptures unless there is a great degree of artistic freedom involved. He is also unsure about pursuing this passion as a full-time profession because he believes that making it a source of income, would result in a loss of creativity.
These sculptures aren’t just aesthetic masterpieces; they’re also designed to make lives easier. Here are some examples:
Saad also rebuilds and remodels automobiles. He has successfully overhauled around three bikes, a Jeep and a Contessa car—the new creations are entirely unrecognisable and unique!
You can catch a glimpse of Scraptor, as well as other incredible IRONic works, at the Moto Art Show, which will be held in April 2018 in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, here are other IRONic sculptures, that will definitely take your breath away!
All pictures courtesy: IRONic
You may also like:– Meet Annappa Sutar, a Man Who Refuses to Quit Traditional Carpentry
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