Forge your future by joining a degree course at the forefront of education in forged metal arts, where creativity meets craftmanship.
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Overview
In this dynamic program, you’ll blend forging with innovative design and critical thinking. Through hands-on projects, develop your unique artistic practice and gain the skills and confidence to thrive in the ever-evolving world of design and forging
Immerse yourself in drawing, research, and design at the studio, while mastering forging, fabrication, and welding at the National School of Blacksmithing - Europe’s largest training forge.
Engage with the artistic world through insightful lectures and master classes featuring experienced designers and artists from around the globe. This program empowers you to shape your future by mastering the creative process, refining your unique voice, and articulating your vision through thoughtful discussions.
You’ll build a strong portfolio of forged pieces, showcase your work, and establish valuable connections with galleries and makers. Ultimately, you’ll carve your own path and make a meaningful impact through your craft.
What our students do...
Forge a career you'll love
Independent, well-informed, and critically aware; our graduates are Artist Blacksmiths and Designers capable of expressing their ideas through forged metal with clarity, imagination, and confidence. They graduate proficient in professional practice, equipped with a broad range of transferable skills, and go on to create innovative, design-led practices. As a result, our alumni are defining and redefining the cultural landscape of forged metal design.
There is no single path in the expanding field of contemporary forged metal design. Instead, the competencies and knowledge gained from your education open up multiple opportunities, empowering you to choose: to combine, or specialize; to work independently, or as part of a team; to conserve tradition, or develop original designs; to build a large business, or embrace an independent maker’s lifestyle.
Stats and figures
100%
In a recent NSS survey students were asked 'How well have teaching staff supported your learning?' and the BA(Hons) Artist Blacksmithing Course achieve 100% for this and many other questions. Leading to an overall score of 90.6.
NSS 2024
VISITING LECTURERS
Leah Aripotch, USA
Hector Cole, UK
Paul Mikula, South Africa
Roberto Giordani, Italy
Matt Jenkins, Canada
Pete Mattila, Australia
Tobias Birgersson, Sweden
Egor Bavykin, Russia
Christoph Friedrich, Switzerland
Adam Hawk, USA
Rebekah Frank, USA
Grace Horne, UK
John Rigoni, USA
Jack Waygood, UK
Ellen Durkan, USA
Stephen Yusko, USA
Claudio Bottero, Italy
PROFESSIONAL WORK EXPERIENCE
Alex Pole Ironwork, England
Cox London, England
Center for Metal Arts, USA
Halls Conservation Ltd, England
Topp & Co, England
Calleb Kullman, USA
The Cart Shed, England
Fresh Air Sculpture, England
Matt Jenkins, Canada
Junko Mori, Wales
Ratho Byres, Scotland
Christoph Friedrich, Switzerland
Forging futures
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Forging Futures - BA Artist Blacksmithing alumni exhibition
Teaching, Learning & Assessment
Embark on a Creative Journey. Imagine starting your day forging at the National School of Blacksmithing, where your creativity comes to life. In the afternoon, dive into the cutting-edge world of design in our state-of-the-art digital skills centre. Here, you’ll unleash your imagination with tools like laser cutters, 3D printing, and 3D scanning, enabling you to visualize, iterate, and rapidly test your ideas before bringing them to life at the forge.
The next day, step into your dedicated design studio, where you’ll draw and innovate with a variety of materials. Experiment with clay, wood, glass, copper, and aluminium, testing your concepts and designs before returning to the forge. On another day, engage in stimulating lectures and seminars that sharpen your critical thinking skills through lively analysis, evaluation, and debate, all supported by our extensive Art & Design library.
Engage in our outreach projects and deliver impactful workshops, such as Spoons from the Wood and Tools for Schools. These initiatives not only allow you to share your skills, but also foster connections with vulnerable adults and primary school children; enriching both their lives and yours.
Exhibit your work at prestigious events like Hereford Cathedral, Fresh Air Sculpture in Quenington, and New Designers in London. These platforms showcase your talent to industry professionals, opening doors to new opportunities and collaborations.
Join the Ferrous Festival, an international celebration of Artist Blacksmithing. This vibrant event features workshops, masterclasses, and exhibitions, providing a unique chance to meet professionals, exchange ideas, and learn about the pathways to success in the field. The festival is a testament to the strength of community, where artists come together to inspire and uplift one another
Throughout your studies, you’ll engage in contextual research that enhances your ideas. Analyse historical and contemporary practices, while participating in discussions during studio and seminar sessions. This process will help you identify your unique creative voice and express it confidently.
By graduation, you’ll be equipped with essential design skills, critical thinking abilities, technological proficiency, entrepreneurial insight, and strong interpersonal skills. Prepare to build a practice that reflects your vision and goals!
Hereford College of Arts has a diverse mix of students, including people with different learning styles and needs. We have a positive, inclusive atmosphere where all of our students are able to access support for their studies. Find out more here.
Connecting you to the world
You’ll engage with the global community through visiting lectures and master classes, featuring renowned forged metal designers and artists, including the likes of Junko Mori, Peter Braspenninx, Jake James, and Roberto Giordani. This exposure allows you to learn from an expanded faculty and see how other artist blacksmiths have shaped their lives through making.
You’ll also have opportunities to network within the blacksmithing community, building valuable connections to support your own practice. Biannually, a team of students and staff travels to the Biennale Europea d’Arte Fabbrile di Stia in the Tuscan hills to compete in the World Forge Championships. This event is more than just a competition; it’s a chance to meet professionals from around the globe, network, and arrange internships that can enhance your career.
Designed to help you excel at Art School, this module covers essential skills like academic writing, note-taking, research, collaboration, IT basics, course structure, assessment, critical feedback, self-reflection, time management, independent learning, safety, relationships, consent, and sustainability in the creative sector.
Practice 1
This module introduces you to creativity through play and experimentation. You’ll engage with a variety of materials and processes, developing an inquisitive approach. Through drawing, making, rendering, and recording in sketchbooks and technical journals, you’ll explore “what if” scenarios and learn by doing.
Skills 1
Learn the fundamentals of forging, fabrication, and welding through professional demos and hands-on exercises. Document your progress in a technical journal, culminating in a design and make project showcasing your skills.
Practice in Context
This module gives you an introduction to the broad landscape of making & historical cultural practices. Here you will learn to analyse artefacts through engaging with era, style, function, material and technique.
Practice 2:
This is your first design and make module, where you’ll apply all the creative skills and methods you’ve learned. You’ll respond to a set brief, generate visual research, draw, design, test, make, explore, iterate, and create forged outcomes. Workshop sessions will help you initiate, reflect upon, and evaluate ideas, as well as test possibilities. This process emphasises that design and creativity are evidenced not just by the final outcomes but also by the journey taken.
Practice in Context 2
You’ll strengthen your research skills, develop critical thinking, and hone your ability to communicate ideas about creative practice. The focus is on meaning and value—key factors in cultural production. This module will help you identify your interests as a practitioner and orient yourself in the broader conversation of making.
Practice 3
In this design and make module, you’ll respond to a set brief, focusing on a specific place and considering the site. You’ll generate visual research, draw, design, test, make, explore, iterate, and create forged outcomes. At the end of this module, there will be an opportunity to exhibit your final works in a curated exhibition.
Skills 2
You’ll improve your forging skills through a technical investigation. In the first part of the module, you’ll replicate a forged object, with measuring and sequencing being critical. In the second part, you’ll choose a specific forging process and conduct a deep-dive technical investigation, documenting your processes through photography, sketches, and notes in your technical journal.
Practice 4
In this design and make module, you’ll consult with tutors to design your own brief. What key themes and ideas are you keen to explore? Are you interested in architectural work, product design, or gallery work? You’ll generate visual research, draw, design, test, make, explore, iterate, and create forged outcomes. This is a time to critically review your emerging practice and, at the end of the module, articulate your research trajectory for the final year.
Professional Practice 1
In this module, you’ll engage with the ‘creative industries’ through a Self-Devised Project or Professional Work Experience. This could involve responding to a live brief, participating in a solo or group exhibition, working alongside a designer-maker, or delivering teaching workshops in schools, hospitals, or community settings. Any practical outcome should be relevant to your own creative and professional practice goals. This experience will help you apply your skills in real-world contexts and refine your professional trajectory.
Practice in Context 3
This module allows you to demonstrate advanced skills in understanding creative practice critically and informedly. By selecting a subject that resonates with your studio practice, PIC 3 helps you contextualize the body of work you create for your final studio projects and enables you to articulate your practice with fluency and confidence.
Practice 5
This is your fifth design and make module, where you’ll clarify your research trajectory and present a proposal. You’ll generate visual research, draw, design, test, make, explore, iterate, and create forged outcomes. The module emphasizes research, experimentation, and the development of ideas as well as outcomes. This is supported by a vibrant studio culture in which design methodology is explored, expanded, and critically reflected upon.
Practice 6
In this module, you will develop an autonomous approach to your practice. You will refine and resolve a final body of forged metalwork that reflects your career aspirations. Throughout this module, you will focus on honing and refining your skills, and pushing the boundaries of your creative practice. Your final body of work will be showcased in the degree show, which serves as the launchpad for your professional career. This event provides a platform to present your work to industry professionals, potential clients, and the wider public.
Professional Practice 2
This module complements your final making module with a series of visiting speakers covering topics such as employment and self-employment, tax, copyright law, ethics, online marketing, networking, and costing work. You will receive support in preparing a creative CV, artist statements, and promotional copy. Additionally, you will be supported in taking professional photographs. This module culminates in the creation of a Graduate Portfolio to help launch your career
A community that spans the globe
Hereford Anvils is the student and graduate community that connects generations of artists blacksmiths associated with Hereford College of Arts.
It has grown to become a powerful force within international blacksmithing and the UK's heritage craft community, using Instagram to share amazing work, and to unite and mobilise blacksmith through projects like the 150mm Challenge and Crosses for ukraine.
The creative community around the course is outstanding. Being surrounded by like-minded creatives was key to developing my skills as a maker. It's opened up a world of opportunity for me going forward.
Nathan Forster
The Artist Blacksmithing degree course gave me much more than just skills training. It taught me to question everything, and to really look at the details. So now I am always asking myself: How can I make this simpler, or better? Most of all, it gave me three years to explore, without the pressure of business.
Sam Pearce
The Artist Blacksmithing degree allowed me to find what I’m really driven by and helped me lay out a direction in which I would like to progress as a maker. The course itself is more than just learning the craft of blacksmithing, it also covers a lot of critical thinking and translating that into an idea, and into a tangible design.
Sam Matthijs
The artist blacksmithing degree laid the groundwork for my creative process. The time spent discussing design, aesthetic and creative values with my fellow students gave me the self-assurance to confidently approach challenging design scenarios and to sell my work.
