Our Mission Statement

Given the near-disappearance of traditional blacksmithing in Quebec and the lack of any means of preserving and transmitting the know-how of this heritage craft, it seemed important to create a place where blacksmithing could be preserved, disseminated, transmitted and updated. The non-profit organization Forges de Montréal was created in 2000 with the mission of perpetuating the existence of the intangible heritage of traditional blacksmithing.

To achieve its mission, the organization coordinates activities for the general public and craftspeople of all ages to observe, explore, understand and practice the craft of blacksmithing.

Our values:

Solidarity: Creating tools and objects for the community locally and humanely, exchanging and sharing knowledge between the various traditional trades, passing on know-how to future generations so that they can reappropriate production and consumption methods;

Quality: To respect the masters and the traditional techniques of forging, as it was practiced before machines and mass production replaced the gestures and intentions of the craftsman;

Eco-responsibility: Maintain an environmentally responsible conscience by conserving material and energy resources, limiting the impact of manufacturing on the ecosystem, and creating a cycle of local manufacturing and repair;

Sustainability: To create authentic, useful and durable tools and objects.

What we do:

Les Forges de Montréal has completely restored and renovated the Riverside Pumping Station, where the organization has been based since its inception, to make it a place for research, practice, exchanges and meetings around traditional blacksmithing.

Today, Les Forges de Montréal organizes a number of activities, each in response to one of the four aspects of its mission:

To preserve the traditional techniques of forging and small-scale steelmaking through study and research;

Promote the history and importance of blacksmithing through exhibits, open houses, demonstrations, sharing the story of the pump station, and public performances;

Share the knowledge of traditional blacksmithing through cutting-edge training programs and demonstrations for youth, adults, beginners and professionals alike;

Updating the blacksmith's craft and its importance by supporting craftsmen, contemporary creation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the rehabilitation of blacksmithing techniques for the restoration of built heritage.

Les Forges de Montréal thus acts as a guardian of knowledge in the field of forging and artisanal steelmaking, and contributes to the advancement and transmission of knowledge in this field, as well as to the development of current forging arts and practices.

 

The intangible heritage of traditional blacksmithing :

For almost 3,000 years, artisan blacksmiths have been at the heart of countless communities around the world. By mastering iron and its transformation, they have been able to provide solid tools and objects of primary utility, thus contributing to the progress of production and transformation techniques that favored the sedentarization of societies. Since the craft of blacksmithing is constantly changing with the arrival of new technologies and new social contexts, it survived the millennia until the arrival of the industrialization period. This period of transformation shifted from small-scale artisanal production to mechanized mass production, making the blacksmith an economic aberration in the eyes of the producers of goods.

As there were fewer and fewer blacksmiths, they became an object of entertainment and myth. Their ingenious expertise and sensitive understanding of the material were set aside and all but forgotten. As a result, few people today have the skills to forge a pair of pliers, a hammer, or even a knife: objects that are still useful today.

Today's desire to re-appropriate modes of production and consumption on a human and local scale, to take responsibility for the environment, and to preserve testimonies of local identity tend to revive the almost forgotten usefulness of traditional blacksmithing practices. Traditional blacksmithing techniques can contribute to the diverse fields of architecture, agriculture and permaculture, urban design, heritage restoration, engineering, robotics, and more. 

Les Forges de Montréal and its team will continue to explore the unimagined possibilities of the forge in the face of today's collective challenges. All we need from you is to come and share in this daily rediscovery, to participate in bringing this ancestral practice up to date, and to take responsibility for ensuring that this common heritage is passed on to future generations.