Melissa Cole Artist Blacksmith
Melissa Cole is a bronze medal holder and Fellow of The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths. She is internationally recognised for the craftsmanship of her hand-forged ironwork.
Melissa’s work ranges from commissioned gates and railings to sculpture and fine art installations. She combines contemporary design with forged and fabricated metal for external public spaces, private gardens and interiors.
Melissa has been featured on Channel 4’s Grand Designs, BBC’s Escape to the Country and Radio 4 Woman’s Hour, and her work has been described as “Metal work that flows and wraps around itself, taking your eyes on a journey producing pieces that are solid in make-up but light and free in their aesthetic quality” – www. The WithLoveProject.co.uk
Based in the Pewsey Vale, Wiltshire, Melissa’s work is informed and inspired by her rural surroundings. Sculptures based on the topography and landscape of the varied Wiltshire landscape evoke the organic forms of the rolling Downs.
Small and delicate pieces often worked in series or as cast limited editions are inspired by natural elements discovered in the Savernake Forest or encountered whilst exploring the local footpaths, by-ways and bridleways.
Melissa works to commission with private clients, designers, community and corporate projects producing fluid architectural elements, sculptures and site specific sculptural pieces from forged steel and wrought iron. She also runs blacksmithing and sculptural metalwork courses from her forge in Wiltshire.
Melissa offers private blacksmithing classes and metal sculpture tuition as well as specialist SEN teaching of blacksmithing and metal sculpture.
