Fire and brimstone: metalworkers’ meetup in Catalonia

A total of 140 artists will meet to build street furniture during a three-day festival

A metalworker works with iron on May 18 2018 (by Laura Busquets)
A metalworker works with iron on May 18 2018 (by Laura Busquets) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

May 18, 2018 05:42 PM

High in the Catalan Pyrenees, 140 metalworkers met throughout the three days of May 18, 19, and 20. The occasion is the XIV International Metalworkers Meeting in Alpens, named after the northern Catalan municipality where it’s held.

Not only is does it take the name of the location, but the event will also contribute to it. Indeed, artists at the event will collaborate over the weekend to create street furniture to be placed in the town itself: specifically, benches and wastepaper baskets. And the design of the final product is both historic and new: it will be based on those of a local blacksmith born in 1898, Joan Prat i Roca, made more modern for 120 years later.

metalworkers

The event takes place in a large flat space known as the ‘metalworkers’’ area. But before getting to work, participants also enjoyed a masterclass by Italian blacksmith Jadran Stenico, considered one of the best in the world.

In 2009 its format was revisited and turned into a biennial event, and it’s since become one of the most important events of its kind in southern Europe. Two years ago, the meeting drew 175 metalworkers from Catalonia, Spain, France, Austria, and Japan.

There will be two prizes given out during the event: one honoring the professional trajectory of an entity or a metalworker, another for artistic metalworking, awarded to one of the participants at the meeting.

Attendance is also high for spectators who are curious to get a better look at this ancient art form, drawing 2,500 spectators in the 2017 edition, about twice the population of the town hosting the event.