On Monday 14th December, I was invited by the South East group of the UK Landscape Institute, to make a presentation of my work. This event took place in Hampshire, at the Discovery Centre adjacent to the main Public Library in Jewry Street, Winchester.
The presentation of images of my work, was entitled ‘Landscape from the Fire’, based on the fact that I am a blacksmith and a large proportion of my work is related to our natural surroundings, either in design content or location. The images showed not only my personal development, but also the development of the blacksmiths’ craft which I have brought about, in both instances, this development has been made possible through the wide range of commissions which I have undertaken. It must have been very rewarding to those members of that audience, who had made my work possible through their support, to see that their involvement in British blacksmithing, had been in some ways historic.
Throughout my presentation, I emphasised the need for good design, good corrosion prevention and fitness for purpose. It is sometimes the case that work is produced to satisfy the call of tradition, either in style or in technique and it doesn’t always fit with this line of thinking. Some craftsmen in the ranks of blacksmithimg are slaves to tradition, so I was also at pains to explain, that as Henry Ford once said. ‘the only history of note, is that which we make today’.
