He learnt the craft at his father’s side as a young boy. 

“I used to help out as a young boy, trying to earn a bit of pocket money so I just used to help out weekends,” he said 

“Mum always used to worry about me with welders and that sort of thing, but basically making lines in the leaves, or grooving, or hammering things.”

Mr Malik’s father studied arts before migrating to Sydney in the late 1960’s, where Mr Malik said, “He thought, ‘I’d love to make money with my hands and my craft’.”

He began working with metal in Sydney, and built up a business. 

“Then he fell in love with Tasmania so after 10 years of living in Sydney he came over here,” Mr Malik said. 

Arriving in Tasmania he bought Archer’s Folly in Carrick, which he renovated and turned into a gallery. 

On April 5, 1978, everything the family worked for went up in smoke when the folly burnt down. 

“All I remember, because i was about six years old … [is] waking up the next morning and Mum saying, ‘Dad’s been out all night because he got the call, there’s been a fire’ and I just remember everyone being really really upset,” Mr Malik said. 

In the fire Mr Malik’s father lost his gallery, new guinea artifacts, tools he’d customised over hours to perfection as well as a place from which to run his business. 

“A lot of the stuff was irreplaceable basically,” Mr Malik said. 

Following the fire the gallery and workshop moved into the only alternative space, the family's new home which was quickly completed. 

“It was quite tough because the kitchen and everything in the main room there, plus the lounge is part of the gallery so we used to have breakfast, take all the stuff off the table of a night, have dinner, have breakfast in the morning then the tablecloth and all the bowls and displays and everything would go back on and lunches were just out in the workshop,” Mr Malik said. 

But this rough start didn't put Mr Malik off metalwork.  

After several years at Petrarch's, with a couple of years metal working between, Mr Malik took over the family business full time in 2000.

Now 17 years on, Mr Malik still loves what he does. 

“What I really like is that you're able to create different colours and textures … and then when I’m airbrushing the colours on with the different raised edges and things I've created I’m able to get some shading and tones.

“You can be very creative with it and you can keep evolving as well, which is what I love.

“The other thing I like is metal’s fairly forgiving, if you cut something and it’s not quite right you can weld a bit extra on, grind it back and start again, whereas I feel work work’s not so forgiving.”

As his father before him, Mr Malik has spent many hours and trial and error creating a range of homemade tools. 

Mr Malik relies largely on tourism and repeat customers for his business, but he would love more locals to see what he does. 

The gallery space at Tasmanian Copper and Metal Art Gallery at Carrick is bursting at the seams with beautiful, vibrant and quirky pieces.

“When people walk through [the door] they are quite often amazed,” Mr Malik said. 

Mr Malik’s wife Gail adds, “I hear, ‘Wow it’s like Aladdin's cave’.”

While most are made by Mr Malik, he and his wife have also started importing some goods to cater for a range of tastes and budgets. 

He is keen to continue growing his business, possibly moving into supplying stores wholesale and the acquisition of a laser cutter has opened up new possibilities. 

He said he often now gets request for signs, and many dog signs personalised to particular breeds.