Forging Ahead A seasoned blacksmith strikes a path that’s more modern than medieval.
PHOTOS BY Jamie Chung
On a sweeping stretch of the Rocky Mountain foothills in Alberta, Canada, inside a brick-walled, metal-beamed room, blacksmith Japheth Howard works against a backdrop that looks like a snapshot from the Industrial Revolution. But it’s a workshop built for contemporary ambitions.
Blacksmithing usually conjures an image of a guy with bulging muscles and a soot-covered face, but in Howard’s case the image takes the form of a contemplative craftsman wearing a pinstriped shirt and bending hot iron and steel into minimalist forms.
“So much of our environment is made out of metal,” says Howard.
