Iron man shows his mettle

Twisted, curved, curled and mixed with glass and wood - Peter Shepherd is fulfilling a dream to work creatively with metal.

He's done farm work, engineering and painted houses in the past. He learned to work with metal in Dannevirke, it's a great medium, he said.

"You can bend it and manipulate it. You can pretty much do what you want with it."

He has always wanted to go free-form with iron, and has been storing up design ideas for years. After designing, making and selling from home for a few years, he and wife Debby bought a workshop and showroom in Heads Rd nine months ago. Mr Shepherd uses the workshop to do basic engineering work as well. The decorative work is what he loves though.

He said it was selling well, and he was hoping to do more and more of it. Wrought iron "pretty much lasts forever", he said. It can have a galvanised finish, or be powder-coated into a matt black.

He uses local wood for table and bench tops, and imports some of the decorative elements from Italy.

He said he could make pieces to people's designs, and he also designs his own shapes and adds decorative copper, glass and wooden elements.