Implemente 4 by Conrad Hicks presents blacksmithing as contemporary design

Objects With Narratives presents Implemente 4, a solo exhibition of new hand-forged sculptures by Cape Town-based artist, blacksmith and toolmaker Conrad Hicks, on view from January 15, 2026. The design exhibition at the gallery located on the ground floor of Place du Grand Sablon 40, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, brings together a body of work that reflects Hicks’ sustained investigation into blacksmithing as both a mode of ancient craftsmanship and a contemporary design technique.

“Central to the exhibition is the dynamic interplay between masculine and feminine forces, expressed through the fundamental properties of the metal itself,” notes Objects With Narratives in an official release. Steel and iron, traditionally associated with Mars, evoke strength, rigidity and order, while copper, linked to Venus, introduces luminosity, softness and malleability. “Their interdependence becomes a metaphor for human relationships, the balance between tension and harmony, and the point of contact between the earthly and the immaterial,” the Belgium-based gallery shares.

The sculptural design objects on view in this collection reference humanity’s earliest traditions of toolmaking, when fire, metal and imagination first reshaped the world. Each work bears the visible traces of its making—hammer marks, folds and organic surfaces that register both physical exertion and creative intent. For the contemporary designer, every strike of the hammer becomes a conversation with deep time, and every form carries the memory of that exchange.

Rejecting mechanised welding, Hicks relies on traditional hand-forging and joining techniques, insisting on the direct presence of the maker in the object. This physically demanding process imbues each sculpture with a sense of vitality, transforming the works into what Hicks describes as both tools and talismans—objects that hold “functional heritage and symbolic meaning, encoding the cultural and existential weight of creation itself”, notes the design gallery.

“Implemente 4 invites viewers to experience the alchemy that transforms raw metal into objects that resonate with both ancient traditions and contemporary sensibilities. Hicks draws on the silent language of metal to remind us of the sacred bond between human hands and the world we form. This solo show is a culmination of Hicks’ lifelong exploration of beauty, form and function,” concludes Objects With Narratives.