From his Tullamarine studio, metal sculptor Ces Camilleri has created several iconic Melbourne artworks. 67287 Picture: SARAH MATRAY
By Alesha Capone
WHETHER it’s an elegant steel candle stand, a fierce shark or disco-dancing diva, Ces Camilleri can create them all.
At his Tullamarine studio, the metal sculptor and fabricator has made many well-known artworks that decorate public areas, private homes and businesses throughout Melbourne and Victoria.
The Greenvale resident said he wanted to be a commercial artist from a young age, but ended up leaving school at 15 to seek employment and help support his family.
“I was always sketching when I was supposed to be doing school work,” Mr Camilleri said.
As a teenager, he began working in a wrought-iron workshop in Kensington, where he “learned a lot from the blacksmiths”.
While working in the day, Mr Camilleri attended trade school at night to complete his formal metal training and gained six Department of Labour and Industry certificates.
He eventually started his own business, Creative Artistic Steel, where he now makes everything from sculptures to fences, water features, doors, furniture and unique creations which adorn businesses, such as a fishing scene including a shark for a fish and chip shop.
One of Mr Camilleri’s most famous works has become a landmark in St Kilda, where it adorns the roof of the HairRoom Salon in Acland St, featuring several people, a palm tree and man riding a Vespa.
The disco-dancer in the scene has even been stolen twice and been the subject of a police investigation.
“I don’t just sculpt, I do other things. Some people might want to a set of gates made for their driveway but might not think I do that,” Mr Camilleri said.
“I don’t not do those things because I do arty stuff. If someone knocks on my door and wants a chair fixed, I’ll do it.”
At the moment, he is restoring the original 1920s art-deco metal gates from the historical Block Arcade in Collins St, Melbourne.
However, Mr Camilleri said the most unusual request he has received from a potential customer was to create a human-sized cage.
“I’m thinking in my head, ‘It’s a bird-cage, how big do you want it? It must be a really savage bird’,” he said.
“Then the lady says she has a bondage place.”
See www.creativeartisticsteel.com.au for more information.
