A.M. IronArt: Schmiedekurse

Unifying work of hand and head

Interest in past and present, combining hand and head, tasks with meaning and joy in carrying them out have made me a blacksmith.

My great-grandfather, grandfather and other family members on my father's side were and are locksmiths and blacksmiths. At the age of 15, I began an apprenticeship as a factory fitter in the coal mining industry in Aachen. After a year of basic training, I came straight to the company's large forge. Working on the fire and anvil aroused an inexhaustible interest in me; I was particularly fascinated by the heavy “bêché”, a pneumatic air forging hammer with its 300 kg impact and its perfect rhythm. Until the end of my apprenticeship, I remained in the blacksmith shop, where exceptional and external embellishment work was carried out.

After my apprenticeship, I worked as a steel fitter at the Anna coking plant in Alsdorf near Aachen for 3 years. There was also a well-developed forge in the locksmith shop with the associated old experienced blacksmiths. In addition, I tried out various old blacksmithing techniques in my garage forge in our family house.

After three journeyman years in mining, I met designer and blacksmith Thomas Seiler from Winnemark, Schleswig, at the first World Blacksmiths Congress in Aachen. He taught me the craft of blacksmithing with its traditions and modern design. I then worked as a locksmith and blacksmith in Würselen near Aachen for 5 years. At that time, I began studying Afro-Cuban music and percussion. I studied Cuban music with its ethnological influences in Havana and the province of Santiago de Cuba for eight years, learned the craft of cooperatives and built drums and various percussion instruments made of wood and metal in Cuba. In the mountains of Guantanamo, I found an old forge where I could construct and forge the necessary tools.

When I returned to Germany in 2002, I concentrated on music, which continues to fill my life today, as well as my craft profession. Since 2003 I have been working as a lecturer in Latin American music at the Open Jazz House School e.V. Cologne and at various schools in the city of Cologne and Leverkusen with children and young people focusing on percussion.

In 2008/2009, I took part in a pilot project by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for professionalization in intercultural art and cultural management.

In 2010, the old craft sparked my interest again. The peace and creative work with hot iron gave me a balance and renewed creative interest in my life as a musician. With good luck and after a long search, I found the old Prussian Fort 3b on the outskirts of Cologne, far from civilization in a small nature reserve. After intensive applications, historic renovations and approval procedures, the city of Cologne allowed me to set up my blacksmith's studio and music room there.

Today, in addition to my ironwork and music lessons, I conduct blacksmithing workshops and socio-cultural holiday projects with children and young people in combination with music and crafts.