WEATHERVANES - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Design Engineer, Artist

‘The origins of Black Forge Art lie in an old farm building deep in the heart of rural Kent, where Rod Fender, design engineer, artist blacksmith, creator and displaced itinerant Northerner built a forge and began designing and manufacturing an impressive range of iron and steel artwork. His enthusiastic and original approach rapidly led to plenty of orders and an extensive, continually growing collection of ideas and designs. Initially manufacturing bespoke forged signs, weathervanes and garden gates, of those early days he says: - "My original aim was to combine top quality metalwork and blacksmithing with a large element of artistry, animation and detail previously unknown in this type of work. As a qualified engineer I managed to blend my previous career with artistic inclinations to develop a craft both unique and distinctive which I appropriately named 'Black Forge Art'. I always tried to ensure perfection and detail, whatever the commission or construction, and regardless of whether the design was my own or working from a photograph, sketch or idea supplied by a customer, I went to great lengths to bring as much life, movement, realism or humour into the finished piece as possible." It is still this continuing 'perfection without compromise' approach to his work that twenty five years later has led to many thousands of satisfied customers now owning an original Black Forge Rod piece of metal artwork, throughout the UK and increasingly, worldwide. Nowadays, despite complaining about where the last twenty five years have gone, with impressively undiminished enthusiasm, Rod, with assistance from his team of like-minded blacksmiths, welders, wife and now we, now grown up, children, all still strongly adhere to those original principles. Commissions over the years now include many large and prestigious signs, village signs, public works of art, reproduced and renovated historic weathervanes. We also continue to hand make, top quality traditionally hot forged gates, railings, garden structures and a rather spectacular barbecue range.