The Forge
Paco and Pepe are the sixth generation of a family of blacksmiths. They welcome us into their workshop, in the very centre of the Renaissance city of Úbeda, next to the Plaza de San Lorenzo, in an 18th-century building. There they shape the iron into railings, gates and artistic pieces that have won several national competitions. Hard as it is to make a living from a craft, these two men from Úbeda keep their workshop doors open, inviting in everyone who passes so they can discover the process of a job that is hard but, as they tell us, enormously rewarding.
We talk with them while they shape a table, the latest order they have received. Then we walk through an exhibition of their work on the upper floor of the building; there, among beautiful handmade pieces, Paco shows us one of his best-kept treasures: one of the five keys of the city of Úbeda, made by his grandfather. We invite you to discover their story, which is the story of the blacksmith’s craft in Úbeda.
How did you start in the forge? How long have you been doing this?
We are the sixth generation to work in the trade continuously, without a break. Each generation has made what its time demanded; for example, in wartime and after the war people did not make the things we make today. I (Pepe) learnt from my father and my grandfather, and my brother (Paco) learnt from me. It is something handed down from parents to children; there is no book that teaches you how it is done. The drive you bring to making things is also essential: bear in mind that this kind of craft is largely art and creativity, and that creativity has to be fed – and, of course, you have to have it in the first place.
It is also essential that you like what you do: working with fire, getting burnt sometimes… It is quite a difficult, complex trade compared with other crafts, inasmuch as other crafts are easier to get started in. Here we work with fire, sparks, noise, cuts… It is harder to get a young lad interested. Finishing a piece is very complex; it takes a long time.
You said sixth generation. How many years ago did this work begin in your family?
About 175 years; we are on our way to two centuries.
Have you always been the only ones in Úbeda? Have other people worked as blacksmiths?
We have always been rooted in Úbeda, in different premises, but always in the old town. We believe crafts must be linked to tourism, to tradition and to the history of Úbeda. We cannot move to an industrial estate; it would make little sense for the work we do, although the authorities are more and more in favour of workshops leaving the old town or simply disappearing.
Keeping a workshop going today, as we do, or as other craftspeople do here in Úbeda or in Andalusia, is already a great achievement. It is very hard, especially now in times of crisis, when people hold back even when it comes to buying clothes or shoes… Imagine buying something they do not desperately need, or that they can buy cheaper at the Chinese bazaar.
What state are crafts in here in Úbeda?
In Úbeda we are lucky to be an Area of Craft Interest in Andalusia, and we also have tourism. We sit on the Andalusian Sectoral Council for Crafts in Seville, representing the province of Jaén, and we try to keep the workshops closely linked to crafts and crafts closely linked to tourism. All the craft businesses in Úbeda are family businesses, handed down from parents to children. We are talking about small workshops where two or three people work at most. For us it is very important that the authorities back crafts, back small local businesses.
Beyond that, it is clear that the standard of craftsmanship is very high. We see it in Seville when we go to meetings or exhibitions, where it is plain that the quality of Andalusian crafts in general, and of Jaén and Úbeda crafts in particular, is very high.
So can we say that people are still working in crafts?
Yes, yes. For example, in Úbeda we are an Area of Craft Interest because, among other things, we have the minimum number of workshops required for that distinction, which I think is about 10 or 12. We have ceramics, stained glass, papier-mâché for Fallas figures, wood, stone carving, jewellery and of course ironwork. Úbeda has a wide range of crafts that has nothing to envy other parts of Andalusia such as Seville or Córdoba, and we are talking about a town of 36,000 people.
So can we say you can make a living from crafts?
Well, rather than can, we try… It also matters that most of the craft workshops left here are run by young people, people who inherited the tradition and are betting hard on carrying on with the trades. Even though they are qualified people with degrees, they have chosen this, to keep up a way of life that goes back a long way.
Bear in mind that, anthropologically, we can also lose the essence, lose how things used to be made, and we would end up seeing ourselves in a museum, in photographs or as mannequins of blacksmiths or potters. We want to avoid that.
Back to the main question: you can survive, it is just enough. We all know what electricity, the phone and self-employed contributions cost… At the end of the month there is enough to get by, only just. Remember that any craft workshop needs premises, has to pay for electricity, water and other things, like coal in our case… We have to open every day, because if you close one day and someone comes, they think you have closed the workshop for good. In other words, we have the same costs as any other business, but the number of customers who come to us, and the way we can sell our product, are different from how big companies do it.
So it is not only about carrying on a trade, but also about keeping up a way of life.
Of course, that is very important too. As we said before, with the current situation as hard as it is, crafts are surviving, or barely getting by. It is easier to go for other things, for ready-made products, products that “fool” the customer. We were pioneers in creating a quality label, “Artesanía de Úbeda”, precisely so that if someone takes home a product from Úbeda with this seal, they know it is 100% handmade, made entirely here, linked to a tradition. With it we aim to fight against impostors and build strength around a label people can recognise.
What kind of customer do you have?
Our customers have always been middle-class, people who know what they want. We are talking about very specific, unique and special commissions. Most of the time the design is ours, because people trust us in that respect, so we draw a design on paper and present it to the customer to agree it with them. Sometimes people come with a very clear idea of what they want and we simply carry out the project. Either way, they are always very specific commissions such as staircase railings, gates, balconies, sculptures… We cover every side of the craft: traditional crafts on one hand and creative crafts on the other. Let’s say there is a functional side and an artistic side.
We started developing that last side in the workshop when we took over. Before, because there was plenty of work, they made balconies, window grilles and so on.
We also understand that a craftsman needs a creative outlet. So how does that creative side come out? Well, if today we do an order for balconies or a gate, afterwards, before starting another order, we spend a day doing whatever we like. That way we break free of routine and make different things. Being able to allow ourselves this luxury is one of the good things about being a craftsman. We always spend a day innovating, creating, working without pressure or deadlines, and it is very good to do it before taking on another order; it helps us release tension.
Where are your customers from? Mostly from Jaén and the province, or from elsewhere?
Mostly from outside, although within the province we have worked a lot in the capital: for churches, for parishes, for the Provincial Museum… In many cases those customers from outside are originally from Jaén, people who now live in Madrid or Barcelona and who, when they come here, want to have something of ours at home.
And how do they find you?
There are many generational customers, people whose parents were our customers and who still are. Word of mouth also works very well: people whose friends have something of ours, or who have seen something of ours somewhere. That is how it is, because today a craft workshop cannot afford the luxury of paying for a television or radio advert; if we can barely keep going, imagine running a campaign like that…
That is the support campaign the institutions ought to run; they should support craftspeople in that way. But anyway, the most important thing is word of mouth: someone comes in, we look after them properly, we don’t mind giving them a demonstration here at the forge, showing them how we work, and that customer leaves happy. That is essential. Now that we are a place of craft interest, we are also included in leaflets and tourist routes that send visitors our way. It all adds up.
Have you noticed the impact of tourism?
Well, there were some very poor years for tourism; now a recovery is starting to show again. And not just from Spain, but from the rest of Europe too. Anyway, we don’t have souvenirs; we don’t have products you can easily take home in your suitcase. It is iron, it sets off the airport alarms (laughs); it is very complicated.
What matters to us is that people see how we work and understand that we can make anything they commission. For example, in Barcelona, in the Church of Santa Ana, we made a Gothic screen, a design of ours with details of an olive branch and the coat of arms of Úbeda, because the patron saint of Úbeda is also in Santa Ana. We have something in Santander too; in Olula del Río, at the Andrés García Ibáñez Museum, we made a Renaissance grille; at Canena Castle we have two more Renaissance grilles. All of that comes from people who saw our work and then commissioned us.
We also did a very important job in Vera: a Modernista building with 24 balconies, based on those of Gaudí’s Casa Batlló. Something very interesting that had nothing to do with the Renaissance we have grown up with here in Úbeda. We have also worked for many paradores. There was a lovely period, although now with the crisis it has all fallen apart. Let’s hope that we, having managed to keep going, can pull through.
I imagine you do a lot of work restoring castles or churches
Well, not so much; we nearly always do new work. We do restoration when the castle or palace belongs to a private owner. If it goes through the administration it is very complicated, because the administration goes its own way these days. That is why I was telling you that unless the administration does something to support the sector, we will end up losing the trades.
And outside Spain? Have you sent work to other countries?
Yes, we also have work outside Spain. In Brussels we have a Renaissance railing; for Japan we made a set of door knockers; in Ireland, in Santa Fe (New Mexico), in Santiago de Chile… Most of it was commissioned by tourists who passed through, visited the workshop and got talking with us.
We do not have the means to attend international fairs or advertise at that level. But when tourists come here and see the work and the prices… to them it is even cheap, although the shipping may cost them more than the piece itself. Many of them tell us “you don’t see this in my country any more”, and that really does make us sad. I often think that if you no longer see this in France or Italy, we will be next…
It is also true that people from abroad value handmade work much more, and above all the authenticity of the products, since they see the pieces come out of the workshop. That is something we give great importance to: we always invite customers to come and see how we make their orders, so they can check there are no tricks here.
Your raw material is basically iron. Anything else?
Our raw material is mainly iron; “wrought iron” is what we work, and then there are steels, steely irons, cast irons… We work wrought iron because it is more malleable, and – for better or worse – most of it comes from outside Spain, although when Spanish or Italian iron comes in, it is the best to work, as it has no impurities.
Then there is the fuel for the forge: coal, which unfortunately also comes almost entirely from abroad, from Poland and Hungary to be precise. It is very hard now to find coal from the peninsula; most of it is imported.
And the rest of the tools?
All the tools and equipment we use at the forge, such as tongs, chisels and other implements, we make ourselves. They are precise tools that you may need to make to measure for certain jobs, so we make them. Then we use other tools such as angle grinders or welders, which obviously we do buy.
Could you describe the whole process of a job? Let’s imagine a customer walks through the door right now to commission something. What would the steps be?
The process is the same whether it is, say, a table or a gate. First of all we talk with the customer to find out exactly what they want. If the customer brings their own design, perfect; if not, we study what the customer wants. Say the customer wants a Gothic screen for Barcelona: we study the Gothic in Barcelona and make a design to match, always on paper. Once the customer accepts the design on paper, and the types of materials we are going to use, we draw it full size. What we do is draw it, at real size, on a metal sheet; that way we can take measurements, cut the materials and take them to the forge, where they are worked and then assembled. We can sum the process up in these steps: design, full-size drawing, measuring, forging and assembly of the piece.
What kind of commission do you do most, the one most in demand?
What stands out most are staircase railings, which are very personal commissions. Also window grilles and the odd lantern; in fact we recently sent some lanterns to San Sebastián.
How long does it take to finish a job? Roughly…
Well, for example, a railing of 9 or 10 metres takes 10 or 15 days of work. That is 10 or 15 days with two people working. Then there are jobs you finish in a day, such as a small table for the living room. Bear in mind you have to make the most of your time to be able to compete on price, so there are jobs where you have to speed up.
We have talked about functional work, but how long can a creative piece such as a sculpture take?
The process is the same: we start by designing on paper, although in these cases you sometimes draw one thing and something different comes out in the end, because the piece itself asks for it. You had imagined it one way, but while working you realise it looks better another…
That means many things. Sometimes you give a quote and get your fingers burnt, because if we are making something and we don’t like how it is turning out, we cannot give that to our customer. If we have to put in ten more hours, we do, but we cannot deliver work we are not proud of. We have to like it before anyone else does. Obviously we can get things wrong, but we never do it on purpose; I mean, I don’t stop working on a piece just because I have reached the number of hours I quoted the customer. We carry on until we get a result that satisfies us.
Works such as sculptures are hard to value in hours, because you make them over several days and you need inspiration. It is hard to call a piece like that finished; the details are what take the most time.
Recently we made some trophies for the Jaén athletics club’s 40th anniversary which, naturally, cost a little more than ordinary trophies, with the huge difference that they are unique pieces, entirely handmade one by one. We cannot compete on price; we compete on the quality and exclusiveness of our work.
Will the trade carry on for more generations? Have your children shown an interest?
Ask Paco, he has sons; I have two girls (laughs)… I always say it has to be what they want to do. You can’t say “since I’m a craftsman, my children have to do this too so the trade isn’t lost”.
On the other hand, speaking realistically, if today we ourselves can barely keep going, I wouldn’t want this for my children. Mind you, if things go well and they want to, we would be delighted. Here in Andalusia we have this custom that if I am a craftsman my children have to be craftsmen too, and that can’t work like that any more.
For now it is us, and after that, we’ll see.
In a job like this, how do you get all the parts to match, in a grille or a railing for example?
Well, obviously they can’t be exactly the same… First come the years of experience, and then there are tricks… First you make one piece and use it as a guide. For example, when you make a scroll, you make the first one and use it as a guide for the rest. You try to make them all resemble that pattern; for that you have to bear many things in mind, the iron has to be at the same heat, and so on. You learn by trial and error; experience is what shows you the way. Many people are afraid of making mistakes, and if that fear is there you can lose the spark of creativity that is so important in crafts.
From outside it looks like a hard trade…
It is quite a hard trade: you get burnt, cut, pricked… There is also the cold… Although it may seem we are nice and warm working at the forge, that is only part of the job.
If you like it, it is very rewarding, but if you don’t, it can become the most unpleasant trade in the world… You don’t start with a piece of iron already knowing what you are making; finishing a piece is very slow and hard work.
Does the product leave here 100% finished, or are there things that get painted or assembled somewhere else?
No, no. The product leaves here 100% finished, all done by us. No part of the process happens outside the workshop. We do everything. Nobody else sells our products either, only us. If a customer wants a piece by Forja Tiznajo, they have to come here and commission it from us.
You have an exhibition upstairs in the workshop, don’t you? Tell us a little about it and about how people can find you
From Monday to Friday we are here both morning and afternoon, and we also come in on Saturday mornings. We have the workshop area, where we welcome people so they can see how we work. We don’t mind people coming in while we work and seeing the whole process.
Then we have two exhibition areas: one on the ground floor, next to the workshop, and another upstairs. Here we show our work, and there are also panels explaining the trade and the history of the workshop. To give you a reference point, we are in the very heart of the Renaissance, on the Plaza de San Lorenzo, next to the Casa de las Torres, with which we have a very close link, as it houses the city’s School of Art.
Since we are talking about the School of Art, was this trade ever taught there?
Not in Úbeda, which is odd, since other trades such as ceramics or cabinetmaking were taught. Ironwork was taught at the Jesuit vocational schools, where my grandfather was the master blacksmith.
What future do you see for crafts in general?
Shall I answer with my heart or with my head? With my heart, I would like to see a future… With my head, if you do the sums… Not only our workshop, but the vast majority of us should have closed long ago. This doesn’t give you a living; it lets you survive or scrape by. But on the other hand you have the enormous satisfaction of working at what you love. In the end you have to weigh both things and decide.
Do you think the authorities should do something about it?
When people say crafts or trades should be subsidised, I am totally against that. Public bodies should give work, not subsidies. Let me give an example: if the administration needs a job done and a craftsperson from the province can do it, give it to them. Instead of bringing things from China, which have nothing original or local about them, they can commission them here. That guarantees the continuity of the trades, but through commissions, not subsidies, which is different. And we also keep a local identity of our own, something very important in a Renaissance city such as ours.
Then we all lament it when a trade like this closes, but the question is: did you do anything to support it? Did you ever buy anything from it?
This is the second article in our series on traditional trades, with which we also aim to make room on our website for intangible heritage, the heritage of our culture, customs and traditions; of everything that makes up our social identity.
If you know someone who still practises a traditional trade and you think they might be interested in telling us their story, please get in touch with us at participa@lugaresmiticosdejaen.com.