Apr 20, 2015
Tobbe Malm is an artist blacksmith and photographer living and
working in Oslo, Norway. He aspires to capture moments of
time and emotions with his forged art. His business has
been growing, and almost exploding with the help of the internet
lately. He is known for the tremendous amount of effort he
has spent on a collaborative project for the tragedy that happened
in Oslo, Norway on July 22nd, 2011, the project is called “Iron
Rose for Oslo”.
What We Talked About
- Recently, Tobbe has
been making sculptures that consist of bolts depicting human forms
displaying emotions, and they are becoming viral on the internet
around the world.
- The story behind the
bolts started a year ago, summer of 2014, at a German Blacksmithing
Festival in Kolbermoor, when Tobbe was awarded the Alfred Habermann
Memorial Prize for orchestrating the Iron Rose for Oslo
Project. A collaborative project that involves 1300 roses
forged from blacksmiths all over the world. At the festival, he
wanted to forge something that was tied to the Iron Rose project,
but something different than a rose. Enter the bolt design,
they were designed to express human emotions, specifically, the
feelings of the survivors that lost family members in the Oslo
tragedy.
- In 2011, Tobbe
started an incredible collaborative project called the
"Iron Rose for Oslo". He has collaborated with many blacksmiths
around the world asking them to send him their forged roses to
honor the victims of the tragedy that fell on a small summer camp
for children in July of 2011. The Rose has become a potent
symbol of compassion in Norway after the gruesome attack that
claimed 77 lives.
- What makes this “Iron
Rose” project even more special is Tobbe’s willingness to invite
the survivors into his shop and teach them how to make their own
rose for the project. So far, he has taught around 150
survivors.
- Tobbe has changed the
design of the project and hopes to have it completed and installed
by this summer (2015) in an old park in Oslo, Norway. He is
still raising the money needed to build and install the new
design. How much money does he need to raise? 5 million
Norwegian Krones or $650,000 US dollars.
- Tobbe also talks about
how he approaches blacksmithing in the Norwegian culture, which is
very traditional. He started blacksmithing by making knives at
first and then it grew into making sculpture. One year later
he started his blacksmithing business.
- We talk about his
computer ability, how he built his own website, and how it is
helping grow his business.
- His blacksmith shop has
a gallery space to display his sculptural work as well as a
workshop area. He rents his shop for $1300 a month.
Guest Links
Tobbe Malm’s metal artwork website - http://www.jernmalm.com/
Personal Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/TobbeMalm?fref=ts
Metal Artwork Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/TobbeMalmMetalArt?pnref=lhc
Iron Rose for Olso Facebook Community page - https://www.facebook.com/IronRoseForNorway/timeline
Roses for Oslo Website - http://jernrosen.no/
Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/jernmalm/
Instagram – Tobbe_Malm_ Metalart
A Big Thank You to today’s sponsor – Nimba Anvils,
www.nimbaanvils.com
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