Our history
The Forges de Montréal's creation
After spending 4 years in France as an apprentice of master blacksmiths Serge Carvalho (ironworker), Henri Sabatier (harquebusier cutler) and André Maltaverne (carver and mechanical blacksmith), Mathieu Collette came back to Quebec with the idea of founding Les Forges de Montréal, helped by his father, Pierre Collette. Mathieu wanted to pass on his disappearing trade by creating a blacksmith school and a place for the preservation of intangible heritage. They completely restored and rehabilitated the old Riverside pumping station to settle there, and in 2000, the organization was founded.
Over the years, the Forges family has grown to include craftspeople, volunteers, blacksmiths, employees and a board of directors. In addition to being a museum, the shop is constantly evolving and serves as a school, a place to share, a research centre on traditional forging and a place of creation of objects and tools that are sustainable, authentic and eco-responsible.
Our fight
In 2016, Les Forges de Montréal received a notice of eviction asking them to cease operations at the Riverside pump station. They thus began a mobilization campaign with the support of the citizens of Montreal. After a petition and 40 letters of international support, the Forges won their fight against the eviction notice.
The documentary Foundations by Olivier D. Asselin, filmed for 4 years and screened for the first time in 2019, tells the story of the ups and downs of the organization during its fight with the City of Montreal. In 2019, however, the story was not over. The development of the Bridge-Bonaventure sector and Stephen Bronfman's stadium idea were threatening Riverside Station. A second mobilization campaign was therefore set up, and the sector's stakeholders joined together to draft a public consultation, which indicated to Mayor Valérie Plante the needs of the craftspeople and businesses in the sector. The "Sign for the Forge" petition was also launched, getting the public to support les Forges de Montréal in their second fight to stay in Riverside station. In 2020, the mayor asks Mr Bronfman to rethink his stadium so that it answers to the needs of the sector's players and does not threaten them, if he wishes to build it there.
After many years of struggle to carry out our mission, to perpetuate the intangible heritage of the forge, we become owners of the Riverside Pumping Station in 2023, through an agreement with the City of Montreal. Click here to watch an excerpt from the press conference given at the time of this announcement.
Price and special mentions
2017 : The Grand prix Savoir-faire was awarded to Les Forges de Montréal for their mastery of the practice of traditional blacksmithing, the "implementation of a shop broadcasting ancestral craft in an emblematic Montreal location", and for workshops offered to the public to showcase this heritage.
2019 : Montreal City Council declares traditional blacksmithing as Montreal's intangible cultural heritage. Read the declaration
2019: LFM obtained official accreditation as a training body by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity. For more information
2020: Accreditation of the Forges de Montréal as an NGO by UNESCO. We can now be consulted and give our opinion on applications for intangible heritage in the field of forging!
Les Forges de Montréal : a family business
For Mathieu Collette, the forge trade was not just a passion or a profession: it represented the intangible heritage of our ancestors, an eco-responsible and sustainable way of production, and a bequest to future generations. Moreover, the traditional forge was an integral part of Mathieu's family, who descends from a line of blacksmiths and craftsmen.
His father
Pierre Collette, architect of the Ordre des architectes du Québec, restored the historic Notre-Dame du Très Saint-Sacrament church during the 1980s with architect Paul Goyer. Built in 1892 and burned down in 1982, the church was restored with ingenuity and great respect for the built heritage. The two architects used only traditional techniques, as in the creation of new handmade stained-glass windows, using the same techniques as in the 19 ͤ century. They also won the Price Habitas award for the quality of the renovation and restoration of the historic building.
Pierre's grandfather, Adélard Collette (1893-1975), was a weaver and union representative based on Alexandre Street in Sherbrooke. He founded the Collette home construction cooperative to provide each of his eight children with a home of their own. He built eight houses, accompanied by his six sons and two sons-in-law. These construction sites not only acted as workshops to teach the carpentry and masonry trades to the workers, but also served to demonstrate that it was possible for a community to produce its own goods and become the owners of them. Today, the street on which he lived is called Adélard-Collette Street.
Being sensitive to the cause of Quebec artisans, Pierre Collette co-founded Les Forges de Montréal with Mathieu, taking care of the architectural component of the restoration of the Riverside Pumping Station. He is now vice-chairman of the organization's board of directors.
His mother.
Mathieu's mother, Lyne Goyer, is descended from a long line of blacksmiths. While her father Paul Goyer was an architect, it was her mother, Aline Robichon, who belonged to the family of blacksmiths who built and worked at the Forges du Saint-Maurice. Descendants of the Robichon family from Burgundy, they immigrated to New France to forge and repair the tools needed by the French settlers. This long line of blacksmiths greatly influenced Mathieu, who felt a very strong sense of belonging to this trade.
His children
Maya and Samy Labrie-Collette, Mathieu Collette's two children, also work at the Forges de Montréal. Since their childhood, Mathieu Collette taught them the rudiments of the trade, whether by imitating the creation of damascus with fimo clay or by taking them, a little older, to forge their first knives atshop. They quickly understood the importance of the Forges' mission and are now involved in it, Maya as administrative assistant and communications manager, and Samy as photographer and creator of audiovisual content.