A new generation of blacksmiths to recover the tools of ancient trades

Deaf people (Pla de l'Estany)The ringing of the mallets at La Forja del Terri blends with that of the Sords bell tower, like the beat of two worlds that are languishing, but which the three young men around the century-old anvil are determined to recover and modernise. They are, in their early thirties, Iu Gironès, Llorenç Rodríguez Astor and Jordi Roura Jou, new generation forgers, with no ancestors behind them. And since the beginning of the year they have also been members of a cooperative located in a farmhouse in Pla de l'Estany that has fire and iron as common denominators, but which seeks to go further: to reclaim rurality and craftsmanship as a way of life, as well as to recover and hand-make the tools of the old trades that are slowly being revived.

"Over time we have realised that iron is the great vertex that unites all craftsmanship," reflects Llorenç Rodríguez, who works in two trades in danger of extinction: cork remover and forger of traditional tools and their handles, "to work as well. There are few cork removers, there are even fewer blacksmiths who make axes. Now it turns out that they come from Sardinia!"

Seeing this need - it also happens with dry stone, the mallets of which come from Mallorca - the three young partners of La Forja del Terri decided to join together and "give solutions to people who have no alternative", as would be the case of the first basket makers who have already knocked on their door looking for tools. In a short time they have built a workshop with hammers and pliers made by them and tools recovered from forgers who retire or are forced to close the business because they are no longer accepted in urban environments.

For Iu Gironès, who also has a company dedicated to the production of medieval fairs and the creation of costumes for cinema (Sordibus), the creation of the cooperative also has a "political" part. "We are going completely against the current: as self-employed people, from rural areas and renouncing personal benefit in favour of collective benefit," he says. "Because it is no use to me to be well if the rest of my colleagues are not well." To all this, Gironès adds the importance of repair in his work. "Artisans learn the trade by repairing objects," he explains, in contrast to disposable consumerism.

Weaving community

But the project, beyond maintaining forging as a trade, has another purpose: the desire to create alliances with a new generation of blacksmiths from the Girona region who have revived the alchemy between iron and fire. For example, Ferro Calent in Sant Aniol de Finestres, in the Llémena Valley, who, although not from families in the sector, have innovated in the way they handle forging. Or Roger Vilanova, better known as Roger Ferralla, near Besalú, who cultivates artistic forging. Also Christof Leber, a German who has lived in Vilaür for two decades and who claims that one should only work with coal, according to Jordi Roura, known by his second surname, Jou.

Today there is no longer a guild as such for forgers, but there is an association, but in the absence of a strong sector, the Forja del Terri claims the importance of weaving a community to learn. All three are self-taught. Iu Gironès began to forge swords, lances and helmets because he was in love with the medieval world – from there also comes the link with the cinema, where he played propmaster a Game of Thrones–. Jordi Roura, son of a carpenter, studied electromechanics and that's where he discovered that he liked fire. They met on film sets and shared interests. And in the case of Llorenç Rodríguez, it was while doing forest management that he discovered his love for wood and cork: "In the summer I harvest cork and in the winter I make axes and tools."

In this process, word of mouth, from meeting older people dedicated to the trade, has helped them learn. But as Jou explains, the internet is where they have found a larger community. Specializing in stoves, he is making prototypes based on Chilean and Australian designs. And they believe in the importance of also spreading their work through their Instagram account, to teach others the day-to-day of an old but little-known job.

Machinery at the service of the craftsman

One of the new things they have begun to show are the two machines they have in the workshop facing the Sords bell tower and the oak grove surrounding the Terri. They are a hammer and a press from the Empordà brand Prada Nargesa, located in Garrigàs, with whom they have begun a collaboration to show that it is possible to combine forging with semi-industrial machinery at the service of the craftsman. "We believe that craftsmanship should also follow this path of innovation," explains Iu Gironès. They compare the work that the three of them can do by hammering iron with the work that the electric hammer can do in a matter of seconds.

But equally, manual work is what their trade is based on. Gironès details the importance of "muscle memory": a blacksmith with decades of experience can do your one-hour job in five times as much time. "Craftsmanship is like a language," he adds, but while clay is worked delicately, even silently, for La Forja del Terri their craft is like "pottery with a mallet."