Unusual jewellery and crafts are being showcased in Helmsley this month. MATT CLARK reports.

AFTER an early drive across the Hambleton Hills in the first frost of the season, Matthew Dwyer’s fire is as welcome as the cup of tea he thrusts into my hand.

Stoked and roaring, it certainly looks inviting, but this furnace isn’t somewhere to warm the cockles.

Matthew makes his living from it as an artist blacksmith, and at his forge near Helmsley he produces exquisite pieces in wrought iron for the garden and home, from gates and curtain poles to weather vanes and candle sconces.

He got into his trade almost by accident.

“I’d always wanted to do something creative with my hands and we were at something of a turning point in our lives,” he said.

“One day, my wife Louise dropped a few magazines in front of me that featured blacksmithing articles. It wasn’t a subtle hint mind, more a helpful hint.”

But a handy one all the same.

Louise was training as a jeweller and about to set up a business producing even finer work in gold and silver.

So with Matthew creating architectural ironwork, it was to prove a useful second string to her company’s bow.

As we talk, he is working on a set of railings, and the symmetry of each scroll is astonishing.

It must have taken hours of measuring with a precision micrometer, I suggest.

Not a bit of it. Matthew pulls from his pocket a scruffy piece of red string.

“You draw it out full size, but I’ve no idea how long this piece is, so I use this,” he said.

“If ever you want to know how long a piece of string is, I’m the man to ask.”

All those curves and twists would be a nightmare to measure with a ruler, but in seconds Matthew’s trusty twine tells him all he needs to know. He does everything in the traditional, old-fashioned way. The only difference between Matthew’s workshop and one from 200 years ago is that he has electricity.

Saltbox, the couple’s showroom in Helmsley, couldn’t be more different from the forge.

Elegant and sophisticated, it prominently features Louise’s stunning jewellery and Matthew’s fine ironwork alongside unusual ceramics, glass, sculptures and paintings by craftspeople from North Yorkshire and beyond.

“We try to introduce people to renowned and award-winning artists and to something unusual they might never have seen before,” said Louise.

And if you find something you like, but would prefer a slightly different style, Louise offers a bespoke service or consultation with the artist.

Exhibitions have always played an important part in Saltbox’s five-year history, and Louise and Matthew will be running Winter Wonderland, a mixed media display of contemporary art, fine crafts and jewellery, until January 7, 2012.

There are some beautiful pieces on display. Take Rose Ellen Cobb’s unusual porcelain bells with gold lustres.

Then there is a striking collection of ceramic winter hares, or how about Gerard Hobson’s painting of a jolly pair of redwings against a snowcovered hill?

For more information phone 01439 770881, email louise@ saltboxgallery.co.uk, or call in at Saltbox Gallery, 2 Castlegate, Helmsley.