(b. 1955)
Born in 1955 in Bulgaria, Rado Kirov trained as a coppersmith under the tutelage of Alexander Raev. He was the Head Coppersmith at the Old Dobrich Ethnographic Complex until he moved to South Africa in 1991 where he pursued a successful career crafting objects in precious metals. In 2012, drawing on his thorough knowledge of silversmithing, the artist perfected a technique of manipulating sheets of stainless steel by hand. His sculpture consists of wall-mounted reliefs and free-standing sculptures, all fabricated from stainless steel with highly polished surfaces. He exhibited widely from London, Cape Town, and Paris. His most recent was "The Mercury Effect" in Pontone Gallery in London (2018). Significant commissions include a chalice presented to Pope John Paul II by President Nelson Mandela in 1998, 'Mercury Landscapes' and 'Cannes: River Wild' for Christian Dior in 2016 and 'Organized Chaos' for the Gibbs Farm in New Zealand in 2018.