Roberto Giordani

I was delighted a few months ago when I received a Facebook message from Roberto Giordani, one of the foremost Master Blacksmiths from Italy. He has known about Hereford for some time, but got to hear so much more about it when Matt Garton went to work for him as a journeyman after he graduated from the course.

Roberto speaks limited English, so it was fantastic that Suzanne Beautyman, who works very closely with the Blacksmiths and CDC and jewellery programmes, was able to translate for us, as she is a fluent Italian speaker. Roberto started the morning with a lecture that just kept on giving. He began with some films that had been made about him and that had recently been presented at the California Blacksmith Association. He then spoke about his extensive work to commission with a range of clients in Italy, moving on to another PowerPoint about his sculptural and gallery work and finishing with a third PowerPoint all about the exciting arts factory that he runs from his workshop, high in the Romagna hills in Tuscany.

His talk was fantastic and Suzanne’s simultaneous translation was extraordinary. As a programme we are really looking forward to making more links with him and have invited him to come back and do a Master Class during the next academic year. We are also looking at developing links with the Arts Factory. There are also opportunities for students to take part in one of his classes in Tuscany as well as opportunities for us to share some of his demonstrators. This means that if someone does come from America or Australia or even Africa, they could do a taught workshop in the arts factory, and also come to Hereford or vice versa. With this in mind I was excited to hear about the workshop that he is running next autumn with Kamsso Almoustapha.

Kamsso is a Touareg jeweller, who uses the traditional, historic techniques of his nomadic heritage to melt, forge and cast silver. I have gone ahead and invited him to come to Hereford after his workshop in Tuscany and this will be an extraordinary and rare opportunity to see a Touareg metalworker first hand. More collaborations to follow…

Check out more about Roberto and the Arts Factory by visiting his website

Del