#artintheeveryday

[threeriversforge]

Culture is the collection of little things.

Culture is what sets your group apart from other groups, and I think this photo really showcases exactly that.  

We too often fixate on the grand things like Notre Dame and forget that those great places were only possible because they came from a culture that celebrated craftsmanship in a million tiny ways.  It was only possible because the people insisted on what I call  “Art in the Everyday” - the idea that quality should reign over quantity, and you should surround yourself with beauty no matter your station in life.  

Look at the quality in this image.  From the birdhouse to the garden to the masonry to the carpentry.  Even that small iron bracket that holds up the light.

Everything is a celebration of what mankind can achieve.

There’s a reason images like this really grab our attention.  Celebrate your craftsmen every day.  Invest in them so that they can be there when it’s time to build the next Grand Thing.

https://www.storefrontier.com/store/three-rivers-forge

[threeriversforge]

Iron made alive. This is the work of craftsmen. This is what I call Art in the Everyday. No need to go to a museum or gallery when you can surround yourself with beauty at every turn.

Work like this is made possible with support from people like you.

Art in the Everyday requires patrons who will step up to meet the challenge; people who see the value in the legacy their support makes possible. This is their gift to future generations.

When you support the craftsmen, this is the grandeur that is possible.

https://www.storefrontier.com/store/three-rivers-forge

https://www.subscribestar.com/three-rivers-forge

Small bricks build big walls. In this photo we can see the end product of a thousand years of culture and tradition, one small brick building on the next. You can add your brick to the wall. You can be part of the future you want to see.

[threeriversforge]

Just finished watching The Tomorrow War with Chris Platt and I thought it was a good time to again showcase the greatest pistol ever designed, Mr. Browning’s Model of 1911.

If you’re interested in art or design, metalworking or history, the M1911 touches on them all.  If more designers took the lessons offered in the M1911, the world would be a far better place.

Over 100 years since the pistol was first designed, and still nothing matches it for form or function.  The fact that nothing has surpassed it in over a century is testament to the amazing skill of Mr. Browning.

If you have to go up against monsters in some future timeline.... it would pay dividends to have a M1911 on your hip.

[threeriversforge]

A beautiful pair of Roycroft andirons.  These are a wonderful example of what I mean when I say ‘art in the everyday’.  This isn’t something you can get out of a factory.  Here is a testament to what a craftsman can do to bring beauty and splendor into a home.

Even better, it’s an illustration of how small elements, each one simple in themselves, can be brought together to create something that is wonderful as a whole.  

If you’d like to see more of this kind of art brought into the world, consider supporting your favorite neighborhood blacksmith - https://www.storefrontier.com/three-rivers-forge

[threeriversforge]

One of my favorite pictures from a recent image search.  I love browsing the web for examples of old architecture and ironwork, and I thought this picture really exemplified how we’ve turned our backs on art in our everyday surroundings.

You can see the Chain Bridge of Budapest and the building in the center of the photo.  Towering over it is a beautiful dome and spires that can’t help but capture your imagination.  Look at the all the little details.  Look at how the designers and craftsmen took their time to make it more than it needed to be -- to add art to the everyday so passers by would hopefully be inspired to do the best they could do in their lives.

And just to the left of that beautiful building is a monstrosity of modern times.  All flat panels and straight lines.  The only good thing about it is the windows which allow the occupants to see the splendor right across the street.

Cheap to mass produce all the components, sure.  But at what cost to our spirit?  What cost to our culture?

If you’d like to see more of the ironwork I produce, please visit my etsy store page at:  www.etsy.com/shop/threeriversforge

[threeriversforge]

Even without the delightful color case hardening on these tools, they’d be beautiful.  Compare these vintage pieces to the tap wrenches and die stocks made today.   Look at the time and effort that went into making the wooden cases and contrast that to the molded plastic trash in stores now.

This was the standard.  This was the “art in the everyday” that I speak of so often.  Even common tools were held to a standard of craftsmanship and art that amazes.  

From my own personal experience....   when you use one of these tools, it reminds you to do your very best work.  When you hold this quality in your hands, building whatever you’re building, it reminds you that quality should go into everything.  If they could take the time to do such wonderful work on something that’d spend its life in a toolbox, you can do your best for something that’ll be seen everyday.   https://www.subscribestar.com/three-rivers-forge

[threeriversforge]

Crisp and clean!  Forging everything out, getting all the lines nice and smooth, and hitting the little window just right so it’s centered on the board..... 

I can spend hours studying all the little details in a masterful piece like this.  Another shining example of art in the everyday items that once decorated our homes and streetscapes.

[threeriversforge]

Behind blue doors...

Between the carpenter, stonemason and blacksmith, everything comes together absolutely perfectly.

Hard iron made organic.