Our mission

In the wake of the virtual disappearance of traditional blacksmithing practices in Quebec, and in the absence of any means of preserving and transmitting the know-how of this heritage craft, it seemed important to create a place where the blacksmith's trade could be preserved, broadcast , transmitted and updated. The non-profit organization Forges de Montréal was therefore founded 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, enabling them to observe, explore, understand and practice the craft of blacksmithing.

Our values :

Solidarity: creating tools and objects for the community, exchanging and sharing knowledge between different traditional crafts, passing on know-how to future generations so that they can reappropriate production and consumption methods;

Quality: Respect the masters and traditional techniques of forging, as practiced before machines and mass production took the place of the craftsman's gestures and intentions;

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

Sustainability: Creating authentic, useful and long-lasting tools and objects.

Our activities :

Les Forges de Montréal have completely restored and refurbished the Riverside pumping station, where the organization has been based since its beginnings, to make it a place for research, practice, sharing and meeting around traditional blacksmithing.

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

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

broadcast the history and importance of the blacksmith's trade through exhibitions, open houses, demonstrations, interpretation of the pumping station and public performances;

Conveying knowledge about traditional blacksmithing through avant-garde programs at workshops and demonstrations, for young and old, beginners and professional alike;

Revitalize the blacksmith's craft and its importance by supporting craftsmen, contemporary creation, interdisciplinary collaboration and the rehabilitation of blacksmithing techniques to restore built heritage.

Les Forges de Montréal thus act as guardians of knowledge in the field of forging and artisan ironmaking, contributing to the advancement and transmission of knowledge in this field, as well as to the flourishing of current forging arts and practices.

 

The intangible heritage of traditional blacksmithing :

For nearly 3,000 years, the artisan blacksmith has been at the heart of countless communities around the world. Mastering iron and its transformation, he was able to provide solid tools and objects of primary utility, and thus contributed to the progress of production and transformation techniques, favoring the sedentarization of societies. As the craft of artisan blacksmithing is constantly changing with the arrival of new technologies and new social contexts, it has survived the millennia until the arrival of the industrialization period. This period of transformation transformed small-scale artisanal production into mechanized mass production, making the blacksmith an economic aberration in the eyes of goods producers.

Fewer and fewer blacksmiths became the stuff 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 still possess the skills to forge a pair of pliers, a hammer or even a knife: objects that are still useful today.

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

So, Les Forges de Montréal and its team will continue to explore, with all those who wish to do so, the still unsuspected possibilities of the forge in the face of modern collective challenges. All we need is for you to come and share in this daily rediscovery, to take part in the updating of this ancestral practice, and to take responsibility for ensuring that this common heritage is passed on to future generations.