Artist profiles

Chris The Smith

Media: Metalwork

Exhibition and News

Exhibitions:
RHS Malvern Spring Festival: 8th – 11th May 2025 – Three Counties Showground, Malvern

Art in The Park (TBC): 2nd & 3rd August 2025 – Jephson Gardens, Leamington Spa

Malvern Autumn Show – 26th – 28th September 2025 – Three Counties Showground, Malvern

 

Experience Days:
Ever wanted to try your hand at the ancient art of blacksmithing? Spend a day in the forge with me, learning the traditional techniques used by blacksmiths for centuries.

Individual tuition and groups of up to four available, I run my experience days all through the year, on average 3 times a week, please contact me for a list of available dates. Experience days are suitable for ages 14 and up, under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult.

Biography

I have always had a fascination with making objects. I like to think I began my journey to becoming a blacksmith as a young child playing with Lego, ever since then I’ve jumped at the chance to play with any sort of material, using a variety of different tools and techniques.

Going through school I worked with wood, plastics, clay and sheet metal but nothing really grabbed me until my parents bought me an experience weekend with a Blacksmith for my 17th birthday. There was something about forging hot steel that I instantly fell in love with. Using fire as a creative tool rather than destructive force and seeing how the application of extreme heat turns steel into a wonderfully malleable material, allowing me to creating an almost limitless number of forms from a heavy material which is usually literally ‘hard as nails’.

I spent 3 years at Hereford College of Arts earning a BA in Artist Blacksmithing, in the spring of 2013 I started my business ‘Chris The Smith’ and I’ve been going at it hammer and tongs ever since. I started off working from a small farm outbuilding on the outskirts of Birmingham and in 2021 I moved into a purpose built workshop at Earlswood Garden and Landscape Centre, just outside Solihull. From this workshop I’ve been using traditional tools and techniques to design and make a large portfolio of items for the home and garden which I make continuously to sell to general public, alongside making these items I also undertake commission work for private individuals, this can be working to a design provided by the client or working with the client to create this design.

The vast majority of my work is made from steel bar which I cut to the required length and heat in a traditional coke forge. Once the steel has reached around 800c I then begin to work the bar into shape using a hammer and tongs over my anvil which is roughly 120 years old.

Over the years I’ve often found myself gravitating towards forms with smooth flowing curves, I like to design and make pieces which, although made from solid steel, look delicate and elegant. I appreciate designs that utilise simple geometric forms and balanced ratios and negative spaces, so a lot of my work has a stripped-back almost industrial feel to them which I find gives customers a sense of solidity and reliability. Although repeat custom is always appreciated, I have faith that if someone purchases an item from me, they’ll never need a replacement.

In 2015 I was accepted into the Cotswold Craftsmen and I’ve been exhibiting alongside my fellow guild members annually at large events such as the RHS Malvern Spring Festival and the Malvern Autumn Show.

Get in touch

Website: http://www.christhesmith.co.uk

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