How one Winnipeg man melds metal, art, and ingenuity
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In a Winnipeg garage, sparks fly, music plays, and metal blooms into roses. This is the world of Lynndon Novak, a self-taught blacksmith and trained welder who calls himself the Abstract Blacksmith.
“I think of melting metal as a kind of dance,” Novak says. “It’s this flow that joins two pieces into one, perfectly.”
Novak’s journey began in 2003 while studying welding at MITT. His playing around with scrap metal evolved into a passion. “I was living with my mom at the time, making stuff in her garage,” he recalls. “People started saying, ‘Hey, you’re actually good at this.’ And I thought, yeah, I really enjoy it.”
Photo by Helen Lepp Friesen
Lynndon Novak, a self-taught blacksmith and trained welder, calls himself the Abstract Blacksmith.
Inspired by his entrepreneurial family, Novak entertained dreams of turning his metal art into a business. His mother was the sole operator and owner of an esthetician business, one set of grandparents had a hotel, while the other grandparents had a photography studio. “My Grandma Sunny that had the photography studio is probably the main reason I have an affinity for flora art as she loved to paint flowers and birds,” he said. Starting a business, though, wasn’t all smooth forging.
“My wife, who comes from an entrepreneurial family too, encouraged me to think more like a businessperson,” he says. “She helped me realize I needed a plan, not just passion.”
That realization steered Novak into a stable career at New Flyer, where he’s spent the last 16 years. He’s part of the team that built Winnipeg Transit’s first four electric buses and helped install the city’s charging stations. But his job hasn’t dimmed the flame for metal art; it has funded it.
Being able to rely on a steady income, Novak has built up a personal workshop filled with high-quality tools and a stockpile of salvaged and new metal.
“I’ve become a bit of a Marketplace hunter,” he jokes. “I’ve got metal from closing welding shops and salvage yards, just preparing for the future.”
Ten years ago, a friend introduced him to blacksmithing videos online. “Next thing I knew, I was hooked,” he says. Now, Novak is crafting everything from lawn art, acorn hooks, fire pokers to delicate copper roses. “People really seem to love the floral pieces,” he notes.
Novak has dreams of launching his own product line, online store, having his own gallery or being featured in others’ stores. “I’d love to train people someday too, have classes in my shop, maybe a studio where I could teach.”
While he welds, Novak’s playlist is as eclectic as his creations: punk rock, heavy metal, and jazz. “I love music with speed and lots of bass,” he says. “It’s part of the rhythm of working.”
From welding buses to crafting metal roses, Novak is proof that artistry can be forged in unexpected places with sparks, sweat, and light or heavy metal.