The Crafts adapting to the recession

With the recession still biting at most people’s heels many in the craft industries are finding new ways to supplement their income. Artist blacksmith David Harland ( www.dhblacksmith.co.uk ) is finding new links to forge working for a search engine optimisation company. He is now building internet links, refining websites and helping people become more search engine savvy. With over 100 years of engineering in the genes, David came from a background in engineering but felt there was something lacking. David needed to have more life and natural rawness in what he was creating and therefore moved into the more expressive, dynamic and elemental field of blacksmithing. "The first thing a lot of people will cut out in times of hardship are none essentials. Blacksmiths are generally used for making ornamentation or creating practical everyday items in a way that is beautiful but none essential" "With twins on the way I have to make sure that I have a steady income that allows me to provide for my family. What the recession has taught me is to always be ready to change. Just like the steel I work, you need to be flexible to ensure that you keep moving forward in whatever you are doing," he says. David started his training with a master blacksmith in a forge on the outskirts of Oxford and to further his skills completed a full time course at Hereford College of rural crafts. He has worked with a number of excellent artist blacksmith's and has cultivated his own style from the technique's they have shown him, in the end becoming his own teacher and guide. Much of the inspiration for David’s designs has been gained from nature and what he sees around him everyday. David believes in the simplicity of life and the growing and evolving that goes hand in hand with it. He tries to sustain these elements in his work, manipulating the steel until in some little way, he hopes, the steel takes on some of the nature David works in to it. "I have friends in Blacksmithing that are finding they are in a similar situation to myself. Each of them are adapting to the changes, many of us going through a real sense of loss as our forges or skills go unused. We are determined however, to keep the coals banked and ready for the day we can get back in the forge and start earning our living from it again."

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