A Timeless Trade | Michael Bam of Creative Copper

Watching the workers at Creative Copper grafting away at their neat work stations one cannot help but admire the craftsmanship that goes into what they do. “It is an extinct trade you know. There is nowhere else for them to do it but here,” remarks owner Michael Bam.

By Benno Stander

After my visit to the Creative Copper factory in Rocky Drift I sit and admire the full-size copper vuvuzela Michael gave me and think to myself, “It’s not often you hold something that you know your grandchildren might very well one day inherit. These days it seems that everything is made to be broken.”

Michael’s Story

Michael Bam in one of the workshops at Creative Copper

Michael Bam came to Nelspruit as a young farmer in 1968. He was looking for a job on a dairy farm after studying livestock farming in Stellenbosch at the Elsenburg Agricultural College.

He remembered the Lowveld from when he was ten years old. His father was an attorney and once dealt with a case for what was then known as Crocodile Valley Estates. The company wanted compensation for widening the road for ox wagon turning space. “It’s like something from a dream,” he laughs. The road, which has been widened many times and is now known as the N4, was merely a dirt track at the time.

“The owner of Crocodile Valley Estates, Ivan Solomon, invited us to the farm for Sunday lunch. Children were to be seen and not heard so I was out in the garden exploring and was later taken around the farm in a Rolls Royce named TP 210. I’ve been told that this old car is still somewhere in the Lowveld. I had fond memories of this farm and hoped to one day return.”

“After completing my studies I went to farm a little piece of property my dad had bought in the mountains at Badfontein. I was young and it was the days before TV and so within two weeks I was bored out of my skull,” Michael explains.

One day he decided to go and visit the farm that made such an impression on him as a child. Long story short, the owner told him that they don’t have work for him in the dairy but that he could join the management training program on the orange farm. He took the job and stayed for 32 years.

Making the move

One of Michael’s friends from school, Howard Walker, lived close to him at the time and used to fly over the farm on Badfontein with his helicopter on his way to Uplands where he dropped his kids off for school on Mondays. Local businessman Simon Bell used to do the same and the two often had a good chat before flying back home. One day Simon said that he wished he could get out of Copper Craft since he had so much trouble with the business. Howard knew that at the time Michael was looking to get out of farming and proposed the two get together and talk it over. The rest is history and in 1999 Michael took over and transformed Copper Craft into Creative Copper, and what it is today.

“I love making things,” says Michael as he lifts his hands up in front of his face, “These two have got to work!” He had to resign, relocate and learn a brand new job at the age of 52. Some 14 years later Michael feels, “it’s been a wonderful ride.”

We used to rent this one property but have grown to the point where we bought it, expanded and bought the property next door as well.

The tour

Michael finds pride in showing off his business and enjoys giving the grand tour. We start in the cutting room where large men use large machines to cut copper and brass into usable shapes and sizes. Looking at the bits and pieces that get thrown into the containers, it’s hard to imagine how it will end up as a shiny piece of jewellery or cutlery.

The next stop was the factory where workers solder, assemble, bend, join and polish pieces of metal to end up as desirable items. These include countless variations of jewellery, tableware, candle holders, corporate gifts and decorations. And if it’s not in their catalogue, they custom make it for you.

Michael has also expanded into the world of silver and does high quality silver plating. This multi-stage process gives metal items a lasting quality coating and is ideal to give those over-polished heirlooms some brand new appeal.

The stock room is something else entirely and the endless rows of containers filled with bright and shiny items are really testament to the wealth of talent and skill that can be found in the hands that work at Creative Copper.

Talk to us

To find out more about Creative copper visit their website.