Calgarian lives childhood dream, outfitting knights with shining armour

This story was originally published April 3.

Peter Fuller is living out his childhood dream:outfitting knights with shining armour.

For 24 years and counting, the man has been selling his handcrafted sets of armour, chain mail and swords around the world to museums, castles, collectors and film productions often for tens of thousands of dollars.

"One of the things my dad and my mom always taught me," Fuller says, "'find what you love to do and make it your job.' And that's what I did. I get up every morning and I look forward to getting to work."

He makes eachpiecein his home studio in northwest Calgary, hammering out the metal by hand and using techniques and even toolsfrom the time such suits were originallycreated.

"That's where my passion lies," he said. "Trying to recreate the original as closely as I can."

Fullerwas first inspired as a young child byseeing a knight in armour. A salesman came to the door dressed in white armour, a gimmick at the time used to promote Ajax laundry detergent. The company had atelevision ad where a white knight jousted with laundry on a clothes line.

"My mother answered the door and I was four-years-old, standing beside her," Fuller said. "I was blown away. I was amazed. I couldn't believe what I was seeing."

He spent his childhood building suits of armour out of cardboard and silver spray paint.

As an adult, he learned a bit about metal working from his grandfather, and ran with the information. He bought hammers, an anvil and some steel and started experimenting.

"Back then, that was 1980, there was no armour making schools, no books or videos," Fuller said. "I basically just kind of learned on my own."

In 1994, he opened his own armouring company, Medieval Reproductions.

Since then, he's lectured on arms and armour at museums, and says he's sold replicas to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Canadian WarMuseum, among others.

His best customers are collectorswho appreciate his commitment to historical accuracy.

Most of his creations are medieval but he also makes pieces from other eras, such as Roman and Renaissance. Each set can take months to build.

Many sell for a few thousand, butsome are listed on his online salescataloguefor quite a lotmore.

A15thcentury Italian/Burgundian set of armour is priced at almost $30,000, and a set of German gothic armour costs $48,000.

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With files from Elizabeth Withey and theCalgary Eyeopener.