Derek Roth is a steampunk artist in Medicine Hat ( Tiffany Goodwein/ CHATNEWSToday)

By Tiffany Goodwein

Powered by steampunk: Local man shares unique hobby

Oct 25, 2020 | 8:29 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB– On any given day Derek Roth works away in a room of his Southridge home. Picking, shaving, and testing intricate parts that combined together highlight some of the earliest forms of power: steam.

“I’ve always been interested in steam-powered locomotives, steam engines stuff like that. I was very fascinated with the Victorian era and the industrial revolution,” said Roth.

Roth is a steampunk artist, and his nixie clocks are some of the rarest in Canada.

“Steampunk really encompasses the old technology that drove that era and so bringing that into today’s world it kind of adds a little bit of a nostalgic aesthetic to our technology in today’s world,” he said.

“Really, it’s a creative process of bringing something that was once discarded back to life, with a new life so to speak, something that people can appreciate,” he said.

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His big focus is antique clocks meant to appear like they are powered by steam, a process that can take approximately six months to a year to complete.

Once ready to go, the clocks work like new and sound at the striking of a new hour, a reminder of a new time powered by old technology– an appeal to those drawn by the art.

“Steam is really where all of our technology rooted from. All of that was all steam-powered at one point and time and I think a lot of times people have forgotten where that comes from, so this kind of, in my eyes brings back that concept, and that idea and it reminds us where that technology used to be, and where it is today.” he said.

More information about Derek Roth’s work can be found here.