Zak, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Thanks for having me. Teaching myself to create this kind of art has been an ever evolving process that I’m still building on today. When I first started making sculptures I had a very limited selection of scrap metal and electronic components to work with, joining them together with superglue and whatever I could find in my dads toolbox. Now I use a micro pulse arc welder, and equipment like mitre saws, pillar drills, belt sanders, and more to modify parts as I need. Over the years as I’ve acquired new tools, I’ve had to acquire the corresponding skills to use them effectively in my practice. The most recent example of this was teaching myself to use a micro pulse arc welder, using a healthy combination of google, YouTube, experimentation, and mistakes to get to grips with the new techniques. I could’ve definitely learnt things a lot faster and more conventionally, maybe if I’d taken some courses or studied art past GCSE (where I gave it up in favour of pursuing science). That being said I probably wouldn’t have stumbled across many of the invaluable discoveries that have come about through some trial and a lot of error. Ultimately the key skill that I associate with my art is the willingness to experiment, there’s no blueprint I can follow when I build my pieces, I have to follow my intuition and often times hope for the best.

Zak, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Sure, at it’s core I create (mainly) animal and insect sculptures out of recycled electronics and salvaged materials. I’ve been making these sculptures for over a decade now, making my first piece as part of a school project for my GCSEs. Back at the age of 15 if you had told me that making these sculptures would end up as my full-time job, or that I’d have an audience of over 450,000 followers across social media accounts, I couldn’t have even conceived of how I’d get there. When people ask me how it happened, I tend to say that I fell into it, but that’s a bit misleading, it’s been more like a series of stumbles and slips into a side hustle, with a final plunge that pushed me to where I am today. After finishing my GCSE’s, I stopped formally pursuing art educationally, in favour of studying sciences. Outside of school I continued making sculptures in my spare time. Once at university I found myself often procrastinating by building a website, and experimenting with posting my work on social media. Through my fledgeling Instagram, my work was shared on some larger art pages, which resulted in a magazine editor reaching out to me. They suggested I apply for the 2nd Biannual Exchange Selections Art Competition, where I placed fifth. I was given a double page spread, and able to share some of the concepts behind my work. This was the first time I ever saw myself as an “Artist”. The theme of the issue was Eco-Friendly, aligning with the ideas behind my style of sculpture. Sustainability has always been the central theme of my work, visually representing the “natural” being displaced by disruptive “unnatural” technologies. I also intend to showcase the incredible beauty of typically unseen electronic components, promoting reuse alongside upcycling, and hopefully discouraging these being viewed as disposable. This ethos led to me working with Colt Technology Services, where I was commissioned to create a butterfly sculpture made from their old network equipment, to demonstrate that ‘end of life’ does not mean end of use for electronics. Completing this piece was one of my proudest moments, it was my first commission and remains on display in the foyer of their London head office. I’m very proud to have worked with a company that is making important efforts in sustainability, and to have my work be used as a visual representation of those commitments.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’ve found that hands down the most rewarding aspect of being an artist are the interactions with other people, and hearing how my art has inspired or influenced them. I’ve received some of the nicest messages from strangers all over the world since my rapid increase in followers. People telling me that I’ve changed the way they look at scraps and trash, seeing the “treasure” in waste and creating their own imitations of my work. I’ve also been contacted by a number of students and teachers, asking permission to use my work for presentations, courses, essays, and “artist studies” for their own projects. I never imagined I could have the reach I have today, and hearing that I’ve inspired people to create their own art, is about as great a legacy I could ever have.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve had a few moments in my life and career where I had to pivot. I went to university to study Biomedical Sciences, with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do once I left. My final year was cut short by COVID, and with lectures and exams going online, I found myself with a lot more time on my hands. I used this time to work on my art, as well as teaching myself about finance, and somehow managed to land myself a job as an Investment Analyst. At the time this felt like it would be the biggest pivot of my life, dropping biology and science and trying to make it in finance without any formal education. As it would turn out there was a far larger one around the corner. After working in finance for just under two years, building my sculptures and online presence on weekends, evenings, and generally any spare moment I had, my Instagram following grew from 2500 followers to 200,000 in around two weeks. This was about as overwhelming as it sounds, and as happy as I was, I was being pulled in two very different directions. I ultimately decided to quit my job and throw myself entirely into my art. Quitting my comfortable job, in the midst of a cost of living crisis, to start a business with essentially zero experience felt (and often still feels) very foolish. It was one of those “if I don’t do this now, I never will” moments. It definitely wasn’t the easy choice, and might not even have been the right one, but that pivot has taught me more than anything else I’ve ever done and challenged me in ways I didn’t know I could overcome.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creationszakmiskry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creations.zakmiskry
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@zakmiskrysculpture
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@creations.zakmiskry