Never say no to a commission that you are not up to. Say YES and then get up to it. This sculpture, made for Mattheeuws Transport in Veurne, Belgium, brought me to my knees several times before it was done. It was thrilling to push myself and the materials beyond anything even the engineers thought possible. But here it is, 150 kilos of hammered stainless floating off into thin air. An important lesson: what you design in Photoshop can never exist in real life – without a battle. My first proposal, a flat drawing twisted in the warp function and inserted into a photo, delighted the client. Nothing else would do. “Brody, it has to be this, do it!”. OK fine. Not fine at all. I consulted any number of metalsmiths, engineers, 3D printers and craftsmen, but nobody had a clue. Frustration, followed by months of inactivity until my indefatigable client, Bie Mattheeuws, began to push for results. I had no choice but to go back to my sure-fire solution, Thierry De Schrooder, who can solve an problem and make anything. Together with the incredible team at Raytech in Bruges, we created the work you see here.

Photograph: Angelo Turconi