Ian first started blacksmithing having decided that office work wasn’t necessarily for him.
Starting work with a local blacksmiths firm in April 2008, by the end of the first day Ian was hooked. He promptly signed up to the blacksmith course at Warwickshire College where he spent 2 years training with Michelle Parker to obtain his National Certificate in Blacksmithing.
In March 2011, Ian was awarded a journeymanship by the Princes Foundation for Building Community. This gave him the opportunity to work with a number of well renowned blacksmiths throughout the country, providing Ian with invaluable experience.
Upon completing his studies in 2012, Ian returned to the Dorset-Wiltshire borders where he has joined Tony and Paul Sparkes at their forge in the village of Berwick St John where he has completed a wide variety of commissions ranging from simple fire sets to complex sets of gates, railings and balconies.
The forge also offers a wide range of fabricational facilities for structural metalwork.
Ian’s personal interest lies in ancient metalwork and he has an ongoing commission from the Ancient Technology Centre to create replications of tools used in the Roman, Saxon, Viking and Medieval periods.
In 2013, Ian was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths for works done to date.
