Hammers clanging, flames casting mesmerizing shadows on the walls, hot metal hissing as it is immersed in cold water – and a work of art is born. This is what life is like for Lyubomir Linkov, wrought iron master craftsman. When they leave the smithy these exquisite works find their way to their owners, but remain forever in the heart of the man who crafted them, because each one of them carries away a fragment of his soul.

As any master craftsman, Lyubomir Linkov, as Bulgarians say, “stole the trade”. Electrician and welder by profession, he left for South Africa in search of a job, and there started work at a wrought iron company. To begin with, he regarded his work as no more than a hobby, but when he returned to Bulgaria he decided to make blacksmithing his profession. That was 15 years ago.

“Blacksmithing takes creativity, it is a form of art,” says Lyubomir Linkov. “There are times when I spend days contemplating a model or just one detail. Ideas come naturally to me, and I say to myself: Why not just try it! Sometimes I don’t get it right the first time, but then the second or the third time – it works. When I am working on a boutique commission, I always follow the client’s idea, and try to do exactly what he wants. The trick is to be able to do what you wanted all along, or what the client wants, and to prove yourself, but also to show the client that it is possible to make exactly what he has commissioned.”

Lyubomir Linkov makes bedroom furniture, mirrors, candelabra, tables, chairs, fireplace sets, chandeliers, and all of them with the precision of a master craftsman in love with his profession. It is a clash of two tough characters – of the blacksmith and of the metal. But does the master make iron obey him, or do they become friends?

“When it is heated, iron is pliable, you can twist and turn it any way you like, so in fact, you are in command,” Lyubomir Linkov says. “But iron has a soul, it does not burn, it caresses. Its soul fuses with my soul, and the result is something original, something unique.”

To reach out to more people and show them the beauty of blacksmithing, Lyubomir Linkov has an open-doors day at his smithy every month.

“Everyone is welcome,” he says. “I make demonstrations of how little things are made, and if people want to just watch, they watch, if they want to wield the hammer, they wield the hammer. Some manage quite well, others not so much, what really matters is to try and to hammer something out as a keepsake.”

Lyubomir Linkov says the hammer does not weigh down his hands.

“It is the paintbrush I use, the iron is the canvas. Every item I make is unique, there are no two alike. If you take a look at your own hand, you will see there are no two fingers alike, no two branches on a tree are the same, they are all different. Even two candlesticks will be different from one another. But that just goes to show that all things in this world are unique.”

English version: Milena Daynova

Photos: private library