Ivaan Kotulsky once said that his entire life has been a journey towards freedom.

From his birth in a Nazi forced labour camp to his early childhood in rural Alberta to the bohemian years in his art studio on Toronto’s Yonge Street; from his spectacular success as an award-winning photojournalist to his single-minded determination to forge a life creating metal art, Ivaan managed, with exceptional style, to reject the conventions and expectations of his immigrant community, while maintaining ties to family, faith and heritage.

Inspired by Lalique and Guimard, but especially by the artists of the Renaissance, Ivaan made objects of incredible beauty in gold, silver, bronze, copper, pewter, platinum and steel, as well as his personal blend of chromium and steel.

Ivaan used the ancient  Lost Wax Casting process to make his art. He preferred to do his own polishing and finishing in order to control the quality of his final product.  Nature and music were frequent influences, as was his Ukrainian Orthodox heritage.  Ivaan said that his art was literally a manifestation of the workings of his mind.  “Art is art.  Its language is universal.”  Atelier Ivaan celebrates Ivaan’s 40-year love affair with molten metal.