Blacksmithing is among the oldest conventional crafts – it dates again millennia. Owen Phillips places a present-day spin on blacksmithing and brings it on-line for the world to see, purchase, and be taught.

Despite the fact that blacksmiths are uncommon these days, Owen was eager to make his enterprise stand out. Gate Foot Forge is positioned as a one-stop blacksmithing resolution. The enterprise presents artisan metallic handicrafts and homewares, restore providers, and blacksmithing workshop packages, all accessible to guide on-line. 

Owen had had earlier expertise with totally different internet hosting suppliers and located Hostinger simply earlier than beginning his personal enterprise. It was the right alternative – this fashion, he might construct and scale an internet site with the fitting supplier from the start. 

The First Ember

Earlier than Gate Foot Forge, Owen was a graphic designer for the occasion and hospitality industries. He had additionally constructed web sites for his purchasers. 

“This can be a pastime that bought uncontrolled,” Owen explains when requested how he bought into blacksmithing.

As an outside particular person, he wished to make a bushcraft knife for himself. It turned out he loved the knifemaking course of. 

“I discovered from some actually good books for newbies. There have been additionally numerous very previous, conventional books. They’re freely accessible on-line, or individuals have compiled them into very low cost, fats books stuffed with stuff from 100 years in the past,” Owen elaborates. 

He continued experimenting and made extra iron and metal works with the mini forge he had constructed. In the meantime, different blacksmiths contributed considerably to his studying course of.

“The blacksmithing group is fantastically useful. I might simply message them, they usually’d draw diagrams and ship me photos or movies to elucidate learn how to do issues,” Owen says. “On this subject, there aren’t any secrets and techniques.”

A couple of years in the past, after Christmas, Owen began to take this pastime severely. A few individuals mistook the trinkets he’d solid for them as presents as merchandise from his new enterprise enterprise. He had put little printed tags on them, making them appear like business merchandise. 

His household and pals’ reception to the items made him surprise: “I’m self-employed anyway. So I assumed, why don’t I spend a few days per week blacksmithing, then see how issues go?”

And that was what he did.

Feeding the Fireplace

Gate Foot Forge’s rise coincided with the emergence of the pandemic. A number of graphic design initiatives that Owen labored on bought canceled. He pivoted to the hammer-and-anvil path – what began as a pastime turned his essential supply of earnings.

Owen’s background in internet design and growth helped him kickstart the advertising of the enterprise. He began by designing the emblem and model identification. After that, he created a WordPress web site, arrange social media channels, and arrange an Etsy account. 

“The primary gross sales have been by Etsy,” Owen remarks. “It’s an enormous market for individuals in search of handmade stuff. So it was good for beginning out.”

He shared his merchandise and dealing course of on social media, which helped unfold the phrase about his works. This went hand in hand with the optimistic word-of-mouth from Owen’s glad clients.

Moreover, Owen arrange Google Enterprise. Now, when somebody searches for a blacksmith in his space, Gate Foot Forge will pop up consequently.

“I discover it fascinating as a result of when individuals stroll in, I by no means fairly know what that job can be. Typically individuals would simply are available in with every kind of damaged issues. In a society that’s too fast to throw a lot of issues away, it’s good to have the ability to repair stuff and prolong merchandise’ life span.” 

The cooking tripod for campfires has been Gate Foot Forge’s hottest product thus far. “My pal from Wales initially requested it, and now I’ve bought nearly 500 of these. I’ve shipped them all around the world, from Singapore to the USA,” he says. 

Shaping On-line Success

Despite the fact that Gate Foot Forge had an internet site from the get-go, Owen realized solely later that it’d be higher to deal with making gross sales by way of the web site. 

His essential problem with Etsy was the sizable fee. Owen understood that promoting instantly from his personal web site would make him entitled to the entire income.

He additionally observed the opposite issues {that a} web site might do, together with higher branding alternatives. “It’s higher to have ‘gatefootforge.co.uk’ than a hyperlink to my account in an extended URL with slashes written on the facet of my pickup. It’s simpler to recollect. Folks can go and purchase stuff from there,” Owen explains. 

The web site additionally makes it simpler to attach together with his clients, as individuals come to the web site particularly for Gate Foot Forge. There’s additionally more room for tales about blacksmithing and what he’s as much as – his viewers loves them. 

Most significantly, the web site helps Gate Foot Forge stand out. The blacksmith group is usually offline, so taking the enterprise to the web elevated its model consciousness.

Establishing the Gate Foot Forge web site with Hostinger was straightforward. Owen stresses that he didn’t want to speak to buyer assist as soon as – the whole lot was working like clockwork.

“The method was quick. I might handle the internet hosting, area title, and SSL certificates in a single place, which was actually refreshing. The migration course of was fairly simple, too,” he smiles. 

Forging Forward

Transferring ahead, Owen plans to broaden his workshop. As he additionally accepts commissions, he needs to tackle greater jobs like sculptures and gates. He hopes to start out utilizing greater machines quickly to diversify and enhance manufacturing.

“In the intervening time, I’m doing the whole lot by hand. Nothing will make you fall out together with your neighbors like putting in an influence hammer subsequent door,” he laughs.  

He’s additionally eager to show blacksmithing to the youthful era. He’s observed there are lots of youngsters who’re excited by handicrafts. Owen needs to do talks and blacksmithing demonstrations at faculties, which, he feels, have forgotten lots of conventional crafts.

“Folks thought blacksmithing is a dying commerce, whereas there are a couple of thousand working blacksmiths within the UK. The scene is definitely fairly busy as a result of there’s lots of work going round that’s solely shared between comparatively few individuals. There’s a scarcity of blacksmiths right here.”

He aspires to assist fill this hole. For now, Owen does that by providing blacksmithing and knifemaking workshops by his web site. He needs individuals to see that everybody can take up handicrafts – both as a pastime or for a dwelling. Particularly with the ability of the web. 

“Doing what I do now would most likely not be viable with out the web site. Or at the very least it might have taken me an terrible lot longer to get going. In the event you’re hoping to take a craft pastime and switch it right into a profitable enterprise, simply get cracking,” Owen laughs.