These curly-haired sisters bring a smile to your face with their bold, intricate metal forms made entirely from repurposed 44-gallon drums.

Words Lucinda Diack Photos Charlotte Anderson

The energy coming from Amy Lynch and Katie Baptiste is palpable – the storytelling bounces from one sister to the other as they share an insight into their lifelong passion for colour, exploration and play; and how it has shaped their latest venture, transforming other people’s waste into striking works of art.

Tucked down a driveway in an industrial corner of Hawke’s Bay is what most might view as a graveyard of industrial 44-gallon drums, rather than the art supply box it really is. Sourced from the food industry, where they have been used for the transportation and storage of such items as honey and fruit purees, these drums have been rescued from the salvage yard and are now lying in wait for their life as an artwork.

For creative sisters Amy and Katie, the drums have become their medium of choice for their intricate, quirky metal artworks that are rapidly growing in popularity and demand across Aotearoa, and even further afield.

As young girls, they were constantly inspired by their surroundings and their experiences, spending hours at the dining table (which is now at home in their workshop) creating, playing and experimenting with colour, pattern and texture. ‘Our paternal grandparents Ethel and Fred had such a can-do approach and passion for life,’ says Katie. ‘Fred was always in the garage fixing things and they taught us to use what you have; there are no limits, it is just about being resourceful.’

Continuing their love of creating together into adulthood, in 2020 Katie and Amy combined their unique artistic projects – Amy’s metalcraft and Katie’s illustrations of flowers – to create individual flower stakes for the garden. Looking for something fun to do together, they decided to exhibit them at a local sculpture festival. ‘We ended up taking 130 wildflower garden stakes to the event, thinking we might sell one or two,’ says Katie. ‘We came home with six. It was insane!’

The demand for their metal flowers bloomed from there. ‘Creating together like this was always intended to be an experiment of play,’ she continues. ‘Not a side hustle and certainly not a business. Just an expansion of the way we had played and created together as children.’

These drums have been rescued from the salvage yard and are now lying in wait for their life as an artwork.

Reflecting on their childhood in the UK, the sisters credit their parents’ love for art and creativity as the catalyst for their own creative interests. ‘Dad was always drawing on a napkin and Mum installed art as part of our education,’ explains Amy. ‘We would regularly get the train up to London to the Royal Academy or Hayward Gallery to visit exhibitions. Whatever was on, we would go to. We were exposed to all forms of art.’

Katie laughs that while they went to the same exhibitions at the same time, each took away different influences. While for Katie, the mind-blowing scales of Monet will forever be ingrained in her mind, for Amy, experiencing Marcus Harvey’s 4 m x 3 m wide portrait of criminal Myra Hindley, composed of children’s handprints, was a life-changing experience. ‘I remember standing in front of it and in that moment understanding the power of art,’ she explains. ‘How it can transcend another language. Where Katie is naturally a linguist, I had struggled at school with dyslexia. I realised then that my creativity, my art, was another way to communicate. I didn’t need words.’

On leaving school, both sisters completed design degrees, Amy in furniture and product design and Katie in fashion and technology – propelling them into creative, yet vastly different careers. While Katie went into industrial textiles and interior design in the car industry in America, Amy found herself wanting to follow her love
of product design and travelling. ‘Essentially I am my husband’s OE souvenir,’ she laughs.

Having met at the top of a mountain, she followed her Kiwi husband home to Aotearoa and immersed herself in our local design scene, working for iconic brands such as Danske Mobler and David Trubridge. The latter continues to inspire her today. ‘I learnt a lot working with David and his approach to technology and materials and to create something that can transcend art into something more. It was about perfectly imperfect forms that could be scaled. What we are doing now builds on what I learnt there.’

The sisters credit their parents’ love for art and creativity as the catalyst for their own creative interests.

With Amy on the other side of the world, Katie and mum Colette used to visit regularly, holidaying for long periods of time until they too made the decision to move to New Zealand – Katie in 2015 and Colette more recently, both settling in Hawke’s Bay. While Katie spent much of the last decade working with Massey University and then Cavalier Bremworth, the decision to jump in headfirst and go into business with her sister, taking their creative project from something that filled the creative cup to a full-time enterprise, was a decision that came naturally.

‘We thought after the flower stakes that we might spend two to three days a month collaborating and creating,’ shares Amy. ‘Within three months of that [March 2021] we realised we needed more.’

By mid-2021, Metal METcALfe was born. A play on their maiden name, Metcalfe, the sisters had forged the perfect synergy. A lifetime of play and exploration of art and materials; a mutual respect for each other’s skill set and knowledge; and a baker to fill the biscuit tin every Monday in the form of Colette.

Amy’s love of industrial materials had inspired her in the late 2000s to embark on a metal apprenticeship which she loved. ‘I enjoy working with humble materials and we were drawn to the 44-gallon drums for their colour and the story they each have. To be continuing that story by repurposing them is a bonus.’

Living in the fruit bowl of New Zealand means there is no shortage of drums at their disposal, and it is only if they are seeking a particular colour that they have had to look outside of their local region. ‘We have become known as the “metal girls” and people will often ring saying they have a particular colour or some they know of,’ explains Katie.

Building on the popularity of the stakes, they describe their ‘foundational creation’ as their corsages – beautiful, layered flowers designed to adorn the wall of choice, adding a touch of ‘something-something’ in the same way a buttonhole does on a special day. ‘We want to create obtainable artworks, as well as the large-scale aspirational pieces,’ says Katie. ‘No matter the budget, we want people to be able to experience and enjoy what we create.’

The kaleidoscope of colour the drums come in also inspires their creative direction, but it is no small task to prepare them for their final journey.

They even have the option for people to wear a slice of their art, with the offcuts from the drums hand-cut to form their Studs of Steel earring collection. ‘We are constantly inspired by other people and our interactions with them,’ says Katie. ‘The earrings came about after a conversation and despite being all wonky and uneven, they continue to inspire new conversations every time someone wears them.’

The kaleidoscope of colour the drums come in also inspires their creative direction, but it is no small task to prepare them for their final journey. ‘A lot of elbow grease goes into cleaning them,’ continues Katie with a laugh. ‘Then we break them down by hand to reverse engineer them into flat sheets before they are hand-cut or fed into “Piers” to be cut into the desired shape.’ Top and tailing the designs to ensure minimal waste, ‘Piers’ is the duo’s first real employee and is a state-of-the-art CNC Plasma machine that has allowed them to push the boundaries of creativity even further. A feat showcased with their latest body of work Patchwork of Possibilities, created for the biennial Sculpture in the Gardens exhibition at the Auckland Botanic Gardens (on now until 2 March 2025).

Drawing inspiration from quilt making and traditional women’s work, Patchwork of Possibilities is comprised of three spheres varying from one metre to 1.8 metres in diameter. A showcase of textiles with metal – they are the ultimate embodiment of the two sisters.

Looking to what is next, these creative sisters know no boundaries and laugh that while 2025 is looking busier than ever, it will just be as it always has been – ‘one experiment after another – every day is a play day’. With plenty of laughter and colour paving the way.