Caleb Kullman Studio



Caleb Kullman Studio

About The Artist

Caleb Kullman • SANTA FE, NM
Metal • WHOLESALE AVAILABLE • CUSTOM COMMISSIONS

Creating new designs using old techniques and crafting unique objects from mundane materials are challenges I embrace daily in my practice. Experimentation with various materials as well as exploration of technique have been fertile sources of creative inspiration throughout my career. I incorporate repurposed materials into my work regularly, and strive to design objects with contemporary relevance and embodied connections to place and history.



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Q&A with the Artist

Tell us how your work is made.

I work primarily with iron and steel, utilizing the traditional forging techniques of blacksmithing, coupled with modern machining, fabrication and digital design. The methods I use to work directly with hot metal – heating it to temperatures that render it soft, malleable, and plastic, and shaping it using a hammer and anvil - are evident in the richly layered textures and remnant marks left upon my work at every step, revealing the determined and focused forces exerted in the creation of each piece.


What makes you passionate about the medium you work with?

Once I had been working as a smith for a number of years, I came to realize the full breadth of the craft – not just as a methodology within the material world, but also as a historical tradition that spans borders and cultures. This realization solidified my dedication to the path of the craftsperson, and I committed fully to the slow, steady accumulation of skill, knowledge and experience that defines mastery of blacksmithing. Demonstrating this proficiency is a prominent feature of much of my work, and is a direct expression of my dedication to the role of the modern craftsperson as a repository of inherited knowledge and a spokesperson for a considered, deliberate approach to making that stands in stark contrast to the hurried pace of the digital age.

What is something unique about you or your practice?

The soft, claylike quality of the metal as it is worked hot, despite still being very stubborn, is one of the most unique aspects of the forging process.