TOM HANSEN
Beautiful Handmade Creations
BRIEF BIO
Born in the central desert. Starting in 2014, Tom is a self-taught designer and maker, honing his skills hand forging metal as well as carving, crafting and shaping timber, using traditional techniques.
Based at Port Elliot on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, Tom works with salvaged and up-cycled high and medium carbon steels and a range of native timbers, making blades and other artisan objects.
Tom's range of unique, functional items honours the natural aged textures and distinctive characters of the selected materials. Items are valued for their practicality and embodiment of the harsh beauty of the Australian outback.
Tom produces bespoke, made to order, specialty commissions as well as a line of more affordable items.
THE FULL STORY
My story starts in the heart of Australia. I was born in Alice Springs and spent the first six years of my life in the town of Yulara, a tiny resort town on the outskirts of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. My father is a natural bushman and instilled in me a deep appreciation for nature, indigenous culture and, being quite old school, was never wasteful. He gave me the ability to see the value and potential in various materials that may otherwise be overlooked.
I was originally drawn to working with steel and timber because of their versatility and complementary characteristics. I really enjoy reshaping the material into functional objects that not only have a purpose, but honour and reflect the original form and the unique beauty of the Australian outback.
This is where blade-smithing truly brings the two elements together. There are dozens of old car wrecks strewn across the massive expanse of outback Australia and these cars contain steel suitable for making blades.
Beautiful timber from a variety of Australian hardwood trees is also found in the arid areas and which I have been gradually collecting from private property over the years (with permission from the landholders). These two elements give a depth of character to the items as each knife has a story. Imagine, if you will, an old car flexing and shuddering for thousands of kilometers over the unforgiving, rough, corrugated roads from community to community, only to be abandoned, eventually, due to an unfixable breakdown, and then gradually scavenged for useful parts by passers-by for decades, before I come along and remove the long-rusted leaf-springs.
At a glance they’re just rusty 8mm thick 150mm wide meter-long curved steel bars, but the pure carbon steel retains its integrity hidden within an outer layer of surface rust.
And the trees of the central desert, pelted by sand and dust, resistant to fire and droughts, slowly and painstakingly adding thin growth rings year after year contributing to their hardness and an almost steel like density. Some trees also provide valuable sustenance to the people and animals of the area, truly invaluable to anyone aware of their life giving potential but otherwise completely overlooked by most passers-by. Even in death the timber lives on through my art and I hope to share its story.
Knives have always been a familiar tool to me as my father is a qualified butcher. I would help him in the butcher's shop at Curtin Springs Station from the age of 4 and I was given my first knife at the age of 5.
It wasn't until my mid-20s that I started messing around with a home-made forge in the backyard. I am mainly self-taught but I also spent time with, and sought advice from, my fathers cousin who is a blade-smith of over 35 years. My hobby grew steadily as my passion and knowledge developed, spurred on by positive feedback from friends, family and my international passengers on the outback tours I've been conducting over my 10+ years as an overland tour guide. I decided to make my passion a business in early 2021.
I really enjoy bringing raw and natural materials to life and telling their story.
