Dorset Forge & Fabrication

Words Glen Cheyne Photography Katharine Davies

High above me, a pair of vultures sit hunched on the branches of a long-dead tree. Nearby, a clench-fisted giant is clearly enraged about something, kittens play idly on a rooftop and someone, somewhere, is whistling.

I edge past a rodeo rider and follow the mysterious tune into a workshop of sorts, where a dark figure in the shadow of a seemingly mechanised donkey ushers me across the courtyard. There I am led by creatures, vines and motionless oddities into a bright room of paintings, ceramics and the cheerful faces of Chris and Nicky Hannam. This then, is Dorset Forge & Fabrication. >

Nicky Hannam

Chris, a Dorset-born, steel fabricator and sheet metal worker of some 45 years, started the business in 2011. ‘I’ve been in the industry since I was 15,’ Chris tells me. ‘I started as an apprentice at Snashall Steel in Pulham, went on to work for Newton Forge and then set up on my own. I was approached by Sherborne Castle Estate with the offer of work, along with a unit to rent and I went from there.’ Chris has been working with the estate ever since, on-hand to maintain their many gates and fences.

The space we’re standing in, once a tumble-down outbuilding, is now home to Elm Yard Gallery - a vibrant shop and exhibition space, lovingly curated and managed by Chris’ wife, Nicky. Most of the artists exhibiting here have appeared on these very pages over the years and it’s a joy to see them brought together under one roof. That said, the paintings will soon be rehomed for the winter as the building’s exposure to the elements can make keeping them here a nervewracking experience. ‘I’d be waking in the night worried about them!’ says Nicky. Officially the gallery then closes for the winter but if customers drop in and Chris is available in the forge next door he’ll gladly open up.

Alongside the artworks are smaller pieces of steelwork and conversations with customers invariably lead to the fantastical creations outside. A sudden throng of visitors arrive and so, with Nicky now occupied, Chris and I head out into the autumn sun.

We pause at a display of newspaper cuttings documenting TV appearances and the project that threw Dorset Forge & Fabrication well and truly into the limelight. ‘This guy put us on the map,’ says Chris proudly. ‘A couple were visiting the pub next door [now The Elms restaurant] and noticed a sculpture of a rearing horse we had on display at the time. They ended up buying the horse there and then but also commissioned a 20ft WWI soldier!’

This now-famous sculpture, entitled The Haunting, was inspired by a folk tale from the village of its owners. The story goes that the ghost of a WWI soldier can be seen walking the streets at night trying to find his way home. The soldier is soon to appear in a series of children’s books written by the owners who have since commissioned further sculptures of characters from the series.

The project took three and a half months to create and uses 1.5 tons of scrap metal. ‘We thought it was destined for the owner’s garden,’ Chris tells me, ‘but since delivering it in 2017 it has been on loan to sites around the UK. It comes back to us in between for a clean-up and repairs, then we accompany it to its next home.’ While we talk, I notice that the ‘someone, somewhere’ is still whistling and somehow audible above the din of welding and hammering. ‘Would you like to meet Martin?’ Chris asks.

Martin Galbavy moved to the UK from Slovakia thirteen years ago following a job offer from Newton Forge in Sturminster Newton. He had come here to ‘clean his head’ following the breakdown of his marriage and had imagined only staying for a few months. It was at Newton Forge though that he met Chris and, a few years after Chris had left to set up on his own, Martin joined him. Prior to the UK, Martin had spent time in the Slovakian military and then art school where he was ‘a no-good student’. A talented troublemaker it transpires.

While Martin can speak Slovak, Czech, Polish and Russian, he arrived at Gatwick without being able to speak a word of English. He made it from the airport to Shaftesbury but still grapples with the language barrier. ‘My work speaks for me,’ he says with a grin. Watching Chris and Martin communicate is something of a marvel. Martin talks in enthusiastic, chortling bursts, often about ‘number one plans’, of which he has many. The soldier, the giant, the vultures, rodeo rider, cats >

and all manner of other creatures here at the yard are down to Martin. He is relentless in his urge to create and spends much of his time here at the forge. ‘Every sculpture makes me feel electric,’ he beams. ‘I am always thinking two, three, four ahead.’

The aforementioned life-size donkey-in-progress sits atop Martin’s workbench. It is an unfathomable jigsaw of scrap metal formed to somehow create, very obviously, a donkey. The key features of Martin’s creations – in this case, nose and ears – are brought to life using traditional sculpting techniques. He starts with a clay mould, then a plaster cast which is filled with steel beads that are then welded to achieve an approximate shape. Using a grinder, the steel is then painstakingly worked into its final lifelike form. Martin hands me a single gleaming donkey’s ear. ‘How long did this take you?’ I ask in awe. ‘Very long time!’ he laughs.

There are some things they can’t make quick enough. The family of cats on the roof for instance. ‘That’s the 2nd set we’ve had to make,’ exclaims Chris. ‘As soon as I put them up there somebody bought them! Now if anyone asks, I say they can have them but they’ve got to go up there and get them!’

Unlike the soldier, the donkey isn’t a commission but Martin has a customer in mind. ‘Martin makes things for the fun it,’ says Chris. ‘Just like he did with the giant - 140,000 ball bearings!’ These creative excursions always sell (some within hours) and never get in the way of the bread and butter work. The company was built on the manufacture of high-quality fencing, gates, handrails and fabrication work such as balconies, cattle grids, stairways and pergolas. ‘If I’m building a balcony for instance and need 47 decorative scrolls. I can come in on Monday morning and find 47 perfectly forged scrolls waiting for me. Between the two of us, there’s nothing we can’t do really. The only limitations are Martin’s imagination and the size of the workshop!’

The next big job on the cards is for a new music venue in Birmingham where the pair have been commissioned to create wall art and steampunk industrial pipework. ‘This is why I don’t mind getting up and coming into work in the morning,’ says Chris. ‘I never know what we’re going to be asked to do.’

As we say our goodbyes Nicky locks up the gallery, Chris secures the yard gates and behind us from within the forge Martin whistles.