Les Forges de Montréal is celebrating its 20th anniversary!

Montreal, November 16, 2020

It is with great pride and emotion that we announce that Les Forges de Montréal is celebrating its 20th anniversary today! Since our inception, we have worked with passion and resilience to preserve, update and transmit the intangible heritage of traditional blacksmithing to our community.

Our mission was born of two observations: the significant loss of know-how at traditional blacksmithing and the absence of a school to transmit it in Quebec. However, traditional blacksmithing offers us the possibility of making our own tools, of reconnecting with our roots and of projecting ourselves towards a greener future. After all, blacksmithing is a science that has allowed societies to evolve and adapt to their environment, and is a response to current ecological issues.

Through the forge, we also forge close ties between members of a community, as evidenced by the ever-growing Forges de Montréal family.

Over the past 20 years, we have been proud to establish a system of workshops blacksmithing courses at the beginner, intermediate and, in partnership with the Conseil des métiers d'art du Québec, professional levels. We also had the pleasure of inaugurating our permanent exhibition Savoir-FER, which presents for the first time in Montreal the history of the Riverside Pumping Station and the knowledge of blacksmithing through time. We have also been fortunate to work with blacksmiths from around the world to recreate ancient tools, offer specialized workshops and organize sparkling events! In this 20th year, we are finally reminded of every Nuit Blanche which shows thatshop is a place to celebrate, no matter what the era.

We warmly thank the co-founders Mathieu and Pierre Collette for their passion and determination, the members of our Board of Directors for their dedicated presence, the members of our beautiful team for their hard work and you, our public. Your unwavering support warms our hearts and gives us the energy to continue our activities. Without you, we could not accomplish our mission. 

We are very much looking forward to the rest of our history and we are happy that you are part of it.

 

Warmly,

The entire Forges de Montréal team