Artist Blacksmith
WicksForge was established in Scotland, where I was studying for a masters degree at the University of Edinburgh.
The son of a carpenter and an artist, I have always enjoyed combining those two trades into hands-on, functional art. While I was living in Scotland, I searched for blacksmiths in the area and Jim Whitson, an artist Blacksmith who took me on as an apprentice.
The history of the trade, the sense of permanence, and the combination of strength, craft, and aesthetic needed to hand work metal, created in me a large respect and love for the medium.
There is a bit of serendipity here, as I come from a family of metal workers. My great-grandfather was a pioneer in the field of welding and ran a welding school in New York City during WWII. Ed Wicks, my grandfather, continued the family trade in Connecticut, specializing in sheet metal fabrication.
Establishing WicksForge has allowed me to reconnect and renew a family tradition in a new way.
If you're interested in getting into blacksmithing yourself, check out my book: The Everyday Blacksmith. It's your essential reference for learning how to make items you’ll use every day: tools, hardware, utensils, decorative objects, and more. Get great techniques and tips for hand forging, and discover projects contributed by leading blacksmiths from around the world, each featuring plenty of opportunity for variation. Available on Amazon or at wicksforge.com.
