Ind.i.a is a company as solid as steel, the kind of steel which proclaims history, passion, difficulties, and progression at the same time. It is made up of a group of companies which all started and began 40 years ago.

Back in 1971, Arch. Bruno Gonzato started the company, Ind.i.a, to produce amphibian means of transport. Ind.i.a, with the initial letters coming from the Italian name Industria Italiana Anfibi, later was changed to Arteferro.

To sponsor this business he first started producing wrought iron scrolls, which is a very common item throughout the Vicenza area.

Within a very short period, Bruno Gonzato realized that his business is much more fascinating that he could have ever imagined, and decided to start investing in this market. Following his instinct, the art and passion of wrought iron was able to transmit.

Ind.i.a has grown through much experience and magnitude to become a group of 22 subsidiaries worldwide, all producing and distributing components, forgings, and finished products of wrought iron and stainless steel through three different name brands: IND.I.A, II Grande Fabbro, and Arteferro Inox.

The expansion has not undermined the love for tradition which marks out this ancient art. To this day Arch. Bruno Gonzato still considers himself a craftsman rather than a major manufacturer, always running his company looking for innovation and design.

He is helped by his wife Stefania, whom is also an architect and designer, as well as his daughter Francesca and sons Matteo, Davide, Dario, and son-in-law Andrea. Through the will of letting second generation grow in managing the industry, it sets a solid base for the future and grants continuity of the company’s philosophy and quality of the brand Ind.i.a.

Boleslaw Kochanowski has found a way to fuse a craft passed on to him from generations with his love of nature.

A Junction City blacksmith by trade, Kochanowski creates fine art iron pieces that depict birds and nature. This weekend he gets to share his work with Wisconsin residents as one of about 100 artists featured in this year’s “Birds in Art” exhibit, which opens Saturday at the Wausau’s Woodson Art Museum.

The exhibit will include Kochanowski’s “Tango,” a wrought iron piece depicting two herons that stands more than 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide.

For inspiration, Kochanowski spends time outdoors, transferring ideas to paper before hammering images of birds, leaves and foliage into iron that is heated to 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit.

“I look at birds. I watch their movements and how their movements suggest lines for ironwork,” Kochanowski said.

from wausaudailyherald.com

By BRUCE A. SCRUTON

From under the shade of a non-chestnut tree came the unmistakable ring of a metal hammer striking hot metal as the blacksmith wrought a bar of iron stock into a replica of the type of hooks common in homes when nearly every village had its own “smith” and most household metal objects were made by hand.

Dick Sargeant was busy Wednesday turning out everyday gadgets, like the hook or a more modern and quickly made bottle opener as part of the Peters Valley Craft Center demonstration area at the New Jersey State Fair/Sussex County Farm and Horse Show.

Along with Sargeant, Wednesday afternoon’s demonstrators included Donna Emmerman, who used a wood lathe to turn out a snowman decoration, then later turned her attention to a papier mache sculpture she is working on as part of a series of pieces about advertising.

As she worked on building up the sculpture from strips of paper soaked in a water/paste mixture, she noted: “I can see what I’m doing. Here, girl, you wear these.”

Taking off her sunglasses, she slipped them on the face of the unfinished housewife.

The piece, when finished, will not have the glasses, but will have a decoupage coat of 1940s magazine ads advising men what appliances would be nice for them to buy for their wives.

“I’m going to call it, â You Bought Me What?!’ ” Emmerman said.

Peters Valley Craft Center operates in Sandyston with a full summer of programs and workshops on its grounds in the former hamlet of Bevis in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.

During the run of the fair, however, the center has set up its own demonstration area near the Sussex County building with daily demonstrators from noon to 6 p.m.

Today, the demonstrators include pottery, spinning, blacksmithing and turning. On Friday, a wood carver, a blacksmith and a spinner will be working, along with demonstrations on ceramics. On Saturday, there will be demonstrations on leather tooling, ceramics, wood turning and the blacksmith.

There will also be weaving demonstrations every day open to anyone who wants to try their hand at a loom.

“Sunday will be a grabbag,” Emmerman said. “All the artists are invited to show up.”

Sargeant, who has spent much of his life as a blacksmith, said there are still many professional blacksmiths in the country, often working on restoration projects, but also as commercial operations where there is little call for pieces, so it is not cost-effective to have an automated manufacturing line.

He said the term “wrought iron” comes from old English where “wrought” meant “to work,” so wrought iron “was iron that was worked, and to work iron, you need to heat it up and hammer it into shape.”

In a regular blacksmith shop, the coal or coke fire on the hearth can get up to 3,000 degrees, but for demonstrations, Sargeant brings along a gas-fired portable forge that heats the iron or steel bar to about 2,000 degrees.

from njherald.com

By Yvon Gauvin

Stretching his arms wide, Shane Myers encapsulates the future look of Moncton’s new Artisan Village on Main Street, turning the vast open workshop that was once part of an automotive dealership into a haven for artists and a go-to place for art lovers and budding artists.

Serge Martin works with clay to make a butter dish container during an open house yesterday at The Artisan Village, an open workshop, gallery and cafe complex.

He can see the dividing walls, the wrought iron fixtures including trees lining the new cafe, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the art gallery where art work by village artists and others will hang and ambiance lighting above to the work spaces of member artists and artisans.

The Artisan Village located in the former Dryden Motors building at 465 Main St. opened its door to the public yesterday, giving visitors a glimpse into the future. Much still has to be done, but Myers, a founder of the village, is confident the cafe and gallery will be open for business within six months and the rest of the transition completed by the start of next summer. The gallery should be open in a month, he said.

But it’s much more than a gallery/showplace. People will be able to come in and watch the artists at work on their medium, whether its painting, pottery, stone cutting and polishing to metal working, Myers’ speciality. The metal workshop will have a thick protective glass to prevent eye damage the bright glare from metal cutting and welding tools.

The village has six artists in residence now and room for another six. The artists can come and go any time they wish and the public will be allowed in any time an artist is at work and the door is open, which could be seven days a week, he said.

The village is not unlike Moncton’s Aberdeen Cultural Centre which brings together a number of artists and workshops. What is different is that the village encourages people to come in and watch the artists at work and talk with them about their art and work, he said.

It will be an economic generator for the downtown bringing people to Moncton and generating sales for art works, he prophesied.

Art and culture have really appreciated in the region in the past 10 years, with more and more people buying beautiful art works for their homes instead of the $15 prints. The media and the Internet have played a part in raising interest in art and culture starting with artists grouping together and promoting local artists and the flavour of local art. Promoters are realizing art is a valuable commodity and organizing more and more art shows and exhibits, he said.

People buy metal patio sets and wrought iron decorations for their properties, but the store-bought items can’t compare to the workmanship and the longevity of the furniture and decor that comes out of the artist’s workshop, he said. That patio set, for example, could last 150 years and become a family heirloom.

There were blacksmiths in Myers’ family ancestry and perhaps that’s where he developed a love for working with metal after a more traditional career.

He doesn’t work just with metal but incorporates stone and wood in his creation.

A grand opening will be held later in the year.

from timestranscript.canadaeast.com

Since 1961 Finelli has evolved from a start-up business in a Bedford garage to a multi-million dollar company operating out of a state-of-the-art facility in Solon.

After originally immigrating to America in 1947 from Roseto Valfortore, Italy, Michael Finelli, Sr. eventually started Finelli Ornamental Iron as a way to provide for his family. Michael’s desire and strong work ethic laid the foundation for what has become an industry-leading company.

“What started out in 1961 as a business in my father’s garage has steadily grown and grown over the years and we are now very excited to be celebrating our 50th year in business,” said Frank Finelli, president of Finelli Architectural Iron & Stairs.

After initially offering custom-made wrought iron products, in recent years Finelli has expanded to include a 5,000 square foot wood shop where expert carpenters craft curved grand staircases and trim products.

Over the years, Finelli has won numerous awards for its expertise and craftsmanship, including the National Ornamental and Miscellaneous Metals Association’s prestigious Ernest Wiemann Top Job honor on several occasions.

“Finelli Architectural Iron & Stairs will continue to serve the people of Northeast Ohio and beyond from its headquarters on Solon Road,” Frank Finelli said.

from cleveland.com

By Kevin Barlow

If you talk to blacksmiths attending the Illinois Valley Blacksmith’s Association conference in Pontiac this weekend, you might hear a familiar theme.

“Many of us got involved as children and just fell in love with the noise and the look of the orange steel as it is heated,” said Congerville resident Dwight Sloter, the organization’s president. “For me, as I got older and started attending fall festivals and watching the demonstrations, it was something I realized I wanted to do as a hobby. And I’ve been doing it a long time.”

Blacksmiths create objects from wrought iron or steel by heating the iron and then using tools to hammer, bend and cut. They often produce objects such as gates, grills, railings, light fixtures, furniture, sculpture, tools, agriculture implements, decorative and religious items, cooking utensils and weapons.

“I got involved in the late 1960s because I had a weakness for making a lot of noise and creating things,” said Danvers resident Bill Kaufmann, a member of the IVBA. “I have always loved going to the shops and watching the guys work. I eventually took some classes and I really love it and really love getting together with others and learning new tricks.”

The conference will be at Central States at Thresherman’s Reunion Park, four miles north on Illinois 23. It begins at noon Friday and continues through Sunday afternoon. It will feature demonstrations and some classes, even for those with no experience. The event is open to the public.

“We’re always trying to get more people into it, and that’s why the beginner’s classes are popular,” Kaufmann said. “It’s something that is unique and anybody with an appreciation for iron can really enjoy it.”
Temperatures are expected to be in the mid 80s on Friday, and dip below the 80-degree mark for both Saturday and Sunday. But Kaufmann said for blacksmiths, the only temperature that matters is the heat of the fire to melt the iron.

“Blacksmiths don’t worry about the heat of summer too much,” Kaufmann said. “If it was really hot, you would probably lose more guys at a golf game than you would at a blacksmith conference.”

from pantagraph.com

SYLVIA THOMPSON

What is it? Making objects from metal by heating it in a forge and then hammering it into shape. Wrought iron was the traditional choice of metal, but it has largely been replaced by mild, or low-carbon, steel.

How is it done? The smith puts the piece of steel into the heart of a coal- or gas-fired forge, to soften, then, once it is hot, takes it out and puts it on an anvil to hammer. The anvil has a flat top and hard edges for flattening and creating angles, plus a horn at one end for creating curves. “When the steel heats up it turns a bright orange-yellow colour. When it goes back to red you’ll need to heat it up again. You have to watch that you don’t burn it. When this happens the steel starts to spark and will go bright yellow or white before melting,” says Colin Highfield, a blacksmith who gives courses in smithery.

How long does it take? It takes only a few minutes to heat the steel and hammer it into a simple shape – and longer to add twists to the design or create more decorative handles. “The trickiest thing for a beginner is what looks the simplest. For example, what’s called drawing out, which is putting a point on a flat or round bar with the hammer. It’s all about getting used to the hammering techniques and the fire. The more ‘complex’ things, such as twists and decorations, are easier,” says Joe O’Leary, a blacksmith who gives beginner’s courses with fellow blacksmith Moss Gaynor.

What can you make? Traditionally, a blacksmith made tradesmen’s tools and hand-held farm equipment, as well as gates, railings and horseshoes. Nowadays blacksmiths tend to make decorative pieces, such as fireside sets, coat stands, bedsteads, outdoor seats, staircases and indoor and outdoor sculptural pieces. Some blacksmiths still make larger items, such as gates, and repair old wrought-iron gates, railings and staircases.

from irishtimes.com

By Heidi Blake

But it is among hundreds of historic buildings being sold off for bargain prices by public authorities keen to raise extra funds to counter government cuts.

The Grade-II listed building of the old St Giles Hospital in Camberwell, south London, is set to be sold by NHS Southwark.

Conisbrough Priory near Doncaster, two Georgian terraces in Greenwich, south London, and the public swimming baths in Rotherham are among the other buildings on sale.

Investment experts said the “Big Council Sell Off” was an ideal opportunity for shrewd buyers to snap up a historic building at a bargain price.

Docaster Council put Conisbrough Priory up for auction at a guide price of £275,000, while the Rotherham swimming baths went up for £150,000.

Lluesty Hospital in North Wales sold at auction for “£275,000 in February. The classical building, which is set around a court yard and complete with a parapet, was bought by property developers who plan to build 70 houses in its 7.4 acre grounds.

One auction house based in Yorkshire and London said 14 councils had listed 100 of their properties for its most recent sale.

Even central Government is trying to reduce its estate, with sales totalling £115 million in the past nine months – including historic buildings such as the former Land Registry headquarters in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.

Property experts warned that some of the public buildings could be too large and dilapidated for an amateur developer, but others were considered more manageable.

Southwark Council sold off a split-level three bedroom flat in East Dulwich, south London, for £240,000 in February. The average price for a house in the area is £366,000.

For those looking to invest in a holiday property, a cottage next to the Tate in the seaside town of St Ives, Cornwall, is on sale for £150,000.

Investment analysts at the trade publication Stock Market Review encouraged property-hunters to keep tabs on the list of buildings up for sale each month.

“People who want to renovate a former public building into a modern residential home may scoop a bargain if what they want does not sell well in the auction room,” a post on the website read.

“The councils are using auction houses so it is best to keep up to date with brochures from local auctioneers, this will list what lots they have to offer in any forthcoming auction.”

But campaigners have warned that the sale of hundreds of historic buildings to developers is putting Britain’s architectural heritage at risk.

The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) also raised the prospect that buildings which are not sold could end up being abandoned and boarded up to reduce running costs.

SPAB secretary Philip Venning said: “The situation could well become something of a gamble for hundreds of historic buildings.

“While there may be some positive outcomes, SPAB is deeply concerned that great swathes of the nation’s built heritage will face an uncertain future under new ownership – or will simply be mothballed.”

Ian Lush, chief executive of the Architectural Heritage Fund, said: “The transfer of assets is both a threat and an opportunity.

“It is a threat because the number of historic buildings which are being declared redundant by public sector owners – and this is not just local authorities, but also includes the Ministry of Defence, fire services, health trusts and so on – exceeds the number of community groups and commercial developers able to take them on.”

from telegraph.co.uk

Red Mill Museum Village instructor David Ennis, center, boosts temperatures in the forge fire pot to near 2,900 degrees Farenheit, while student Nelly Fokken and reporter Warren Cooper wait until their wrought iron rods get ‘dazzling white.’ The pair spent three hours learning about blacksmithing and swinging a hammer at hot metal in the museum’s forge to create decorative hooks in a test of the museum’s new blacksmithing classes, set to start next spring.

CLINTON — Anyone who has ever wondered how poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s village blacksmith managed it can take a turn with bellows, hammer and anvil next spring at the Red Mill Museum Village.
The instructor is David Ennis of Alexandria Township, a semi-retired real estate broker. Ennis began learning the smith’s art and craft four years ago at Peter’s Valley Craft Center in Sussex County. He’s since been an artist in residence at Peter’s Valley, where one of his weather vanes adorns a building.
Nelly Fokken, a Clinton Township resident who serves as a tour guide at the museum, is at the Red Mill forge on Saturday to “try out” the Day 1 instruction.
Ennis hands Fokken a heavy leather apron, which blacksmiths once wore, and plastic safety glasses, which they idn’t. .
Ennis creates an updraft in the chimney then fills the firepot with yesterday’s coke, the remains of soft bituminous coal that has had its volatile organic chemicals burned away. He sprinkles a little water on the coke and heaps on bits of fresh coal. Above a thousand degrees or so, the coke forms a shell that traps heat, allowing for temperatures inside to grow hot enough to soften metal. Ennis banks and rebanks the coal, piling it over the glowing coke.

Ennis shows Fokken the proper technique, holding the round rod at an angle to the flat top of the anvil then squaring it, rotating in quarter turns under the hammer.
As the coke burns, it leaves behind a metal residue called “clink,” for the sound it makes. Heavier than the coke, it robs the forge of heat. Ennis turns a crank at the bottom of the fire pot to let the clink drop into an ash can below. Increase the air flow and the temperature climbs from 1,195° F, to 2,700°F, heating the metal from “dull cherry red” to “dazzling white.” In the dark blacksmith shop, the color of the metal tells the smith how hot it is.
Too cold and the hammer has no effect. Too hot and the metal can actually burn up. When it’s just right, Ennis says, the metal “moves like modeling clay.”
Fokken pushes a 3-foot long half-inch diameter iron rod into the glowing center of the forge and, after a moment, draws it out. “More air, more air,” says Ennis. “Let it soak.”
The fire grows to a low howl. A moment later, the tip of the rod glows yellow-white.
Fokken sets it on the anvil and begins beating the glowing end with a two-pound hammer.
The anvil is a massive presence in the forge, this one weighing 337 pounds. Its shape hasn’t changed since medieval times, Ennis says. The smith’s two-pound hammer can spring back from its surface with enough speed and force to strike a distracted smith in the forehead and kill him, Ennis says.
Ennis grips the searing metal rod with tongs after scouring it and bending it at right angle to break the emerging hook from the rest of the rod. Out of sight to his right is the ‘plunge bucket,’ a half-barrel of water used to cool the metal down. Spring blacksmithing sessions can be booked now, as holiday presents. The Red Mill plans eight-hour, hands-on weekend seminars.
Fokken is concentrating hard, squaring the tube and drawing the metal out of itself with repeated blows. Thinning and rounding, thinning and rounding, each time returning to the forge to bring up the heat. The tip is soon a point, which Fokken curls back on itself, then plunges into a wooden half-barrel of water, the “quench bucket,” to cool just the last inch. Then back into the fire it goes. When the next few inches glow, she pulls the rod out and bends it around the horn of the anvil. After a plunge into the quench bucket and a spell in the coke fire, the next few inches become glowingly malleability. Fokken holds the rod with tongs, scores the glowing section with heavy blows then twists it until it parts.
She reheats that end, pounds it thin, pierces it with punch and, voila! She’s made her first hook.
Spring blacksmithing sessions can be booked now, as holiday presents. Call 908-735-4101 for details. The museum plans eight-hour, hands-on weekend seminars.

By nj.com

Every day forges are fired up and metal heated, twisted, bent, stretched and hammered into objects as beautiful and artistic as they are functional.

Montana is home to dozens of these skilled artisans. According to Jim Bolinger, president of the Northern Rockies Blacksmith Association, per capita, Montana boasts a huge number of top-level blacksmiths.

“We have an immense file cabinet of blacksmith brainpower,” he said.

Elegant chandeliers, lanterns and sconces; intricately designed gates; decorative balustrades; spectacular fireplaces and grilles; and unique furniture are just some of the items created by these artist-blacksmiths.

Many got their start the time-honored way — making horseshoes.

“I know a lot of blacksmiths like me who cut their teeth as farriers,” said Scott Espelin of Butte.

Espelin began small, making branding irons, steak forks and other trinkets. Twenty-four years later, he’s a full-time blacksmith operating the Wild West Ironworks.

“I just don’t know what I’d do if I didn’t blacksmith,” he said.

Were it not for a young generation eager to revive his time-worn trade, the blacksmith would be frozen in time, forever hammering iron beneath Longfellow’s chestnut tree.

“Two hundred years ago every village had a blacksmith who’d make whatever was necessary,” said Morris Hallowell, a Livingston blacksmith. “Then came the industrial revolution, Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts for the Model T or tractor. Hand forging fell into decline and virtually disappeared.”

The blacksmith renaissance began in the 1960s and ’70s when white-collar youth began returning to earthy endeavors like carpentry, farming and other hands-on work. By then, books or information about forging were nonexistent and only a handful of blacksmiths were still in business.

Rather than simply fashioning horseshoes and farm equipment, these young metal workers turned to creating architectural and ornamental objects. And as the ranks of blacksmiths grew, so did a culture of openness among them, a willingness to share information less common in other artistic circles.

“We’re not secretive about what we know,” said Joel Machler, who operates the Beaver Creek Forge in Bozeman. “We really enjoy passing on what we’ve learned.”

No blacksmith is without his or her trademark forge, anvil and hammer. Although many prefer the practicality of propane-fired forges, others still fuel their forges with low-sulfur coal, charcoal or coke.

All serve the same purpose, to heat the raw stock to temperatures reaching 2,000 degrees until it glows with a bright yellow orange hue indicating it’s soft enough to manipulate.

Old-time blacksmiths worked primarily with wrought iron, which came from iron ore. The ore required smelting to separate the iron from the ore. Although the term “wrought iron” once described that specific ferrous material, it is now used to describe any decorative ironwork.

Steel is now the predominant raw stock, although artist-blacksmiths also incorporate materials such as bronze, copper or brass in their products.

Blacksmiths not only design and hand-forge ironwork, they also often make the tools, or jigs.

Tony Stewart’s Iron Thistle Forge in Whitefish is littered with piles of metal bars in various configurations, each one designed for a specific

purpose.

“I’ve made literally hundreds of tools,” said Stewart, “some of which I’ll only use once.”

Stewart’s workshop, typical of his trade, is a melange of old and new — a coal-fired forge, assorted anvils, hand-built tools and a treadle hammer share the crowded space with two propane-fired forges, pneumatic hammers, a plasma torch and other equipment he’s designed.

“The point is to create something uniquely made from your shop,” said Stewart, “by using traditional equipment and techniques that give a job a certain aesthetic quality as well as new ones that make it easier on your body.”
“Everything had to be rediscovered,” Hallowell said.
The love of the medium — the metal itself — and the creative outlet of manipulating it into something functional, decorative, or both draw blacksmiths to the trade.

“You develop an intimate connection with metal,” said Stewart, “and you can anticipate how it will behave just by looking at it.”

Hallowell describes how he felt “smitten” the first time he entered a forge some 10 years ago.

“I like metal because it doesn’t talk back,” he said, “and with enough heat and force, it’s like modeling clay that you can stretch, shrink, expand and bend to your will.”

The forging process is a source of endless fascination for diehard blacksmiths. Espelin was mesmerized by the transformative nature of steel when, as a youngster in 1970, he watched his dad repair a piece of equipment on their Helena Valley farm.

“I still remember the old Kirby vacuum cleaner that was used as the blower for the handmade forge of bricks and concrete,” he said. “Seeing Dad heat up the piece until it was red-hot then hammering it straight was amazing — and the process still amazes me to this day.”

Blacksmiths can attest to the physical demands of the trade, but that doesn’t preclude those who lack bulging biceps, including many women such as Lyndel Meikle.

A park ranger at the Grant Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, Meikle caught the blacksmithing bug when she began giving interpretive demonstrations in 1985.

In addition to introducing thousands of visitors yearly to traditional forging methods of the late 1800s, she also has been teaching basic blacksmithing at the local high school for the past 18 years.

Meikle admits that strength is important, but isn’t averse to asking for help.

“As a female, you can think things through, or you can muscle them through,” she said, “but they get done either way.”

More than just physical prowess, blacksmithing requires mental focus and technical expertise.

“While it doesn’t require much skill to start forging, it takes an artistic sense of line, balance and proportion as well as a vision of design to become truly skilled,” Hallowell said.

Stewart recently completed an impressive gated entrance to a private residence that was custom-designed to conform to the slope and contour of the land.

“A large job like this can be incredibly nerve-racking because of its scale and need for total precision,” he said, “Even the slightest discrepancy becomes massive across the span of the panels.”

In an age when most household items are manufactured in bulk, a durable, handmade object has lasting beauty and value, Stewart said.

“When a lot of work and time has been invested in creating an artisanal product it has more intrinsic as well as aesthetic value than something made in a fabrication shop,” he said. “It’s truly a labor of love.”