For any kind of artist, coming up with new ideas, and finding your unique voice among other talented artists can be a challenge. For Danny Rondeau, well versed in classical goldsmithing techniques, a discovery that science can meet art in creating innovative pieces has proven to be successful in meeting this challenge.

The Nelson B.C. business owner of MettleSmith Design creates rings, pendants, brooches, and earrings which are totally different from typical production jewellery because of the highly technological processes that are applied to the stainless steel and other industrial materials that he uses.

His jewellery is sent to labs in eastern provinces and in the US which specialize in applying hard and durable specialized ceramic coatings to metal tools. Danny adapts their processes that are meant for tools and applies it to jewellery creating a wide range of unique colourings.

“I do this because I think it is beautiful and more durable than traditional patinas; also it’s earth friendlier than traditional colouring methods – there are no toxic by products created and the resulting coatings are hypoallergenic,” he explains.

“I am using steel instead of gold and silver because to me steel is the most precious metal. It is like no other metal because it can change the way it behaves by being mixed and treated differently. Treat it one way and it can be as hard and brittle as a razor blade; treat it another way and it can be as soft and supple as a watch spring.”

Danny, who also does blacksmithing and welding, explains that he expects to be exploring these coatings and type of design work for a few years yet, saying, “In the last ten years, there has been a massive trickle down of high tech or scientific materials that the common person can access. That has never been the case before; ten years ago, I would never have been able to access these labs.”

The rural Alberta native explains that his interest in science, technology and materials began when he would fix the generator and car with his Dad, always fascinated by how things work; taking things apart and having to put them back together again.

“An example of my technical mischief was that I tried to make samurai swords – by laminating steel in my friend’s Dad’s fire place which of course did not work. When I was 12 or 13, my grandparents gave me an old kit for making beaded jewellery and that was when I started getting into finer metal work,” Danny recalls.

Much later, Danny ended up studying metal work and jewellery at Nelson’s Kootenay School of the Arts for two years, and then did a one year intensive diploma program in jewellery repair and design at Toronto’s George Brown College in 2001. In 2002, he moved to Halifax to work at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design as a studio technician in the jewellery department before returning to Nelson in 2005. In 2006, a studio in Nelson was set up and today his work is sold in several galleries in BC, Alberta, and Ontario. Contact Danny at info@mettlesmithdesign.com or 250 352-1766.

All of these experiences have led this versatile goldsmith into looking at fresh methods of jewellery making, and the result is taking it to a whole new level by mixing science and art to bring in high tech art for those that are looking for something new.