Meet the Yorkshireman forging a future for blacksmithing

The hanging anvil sign is a clue to the creative activity within. For years, the single-storey stone building in Wharfe View Road, Ilkley, has provided a workspace for creatives who skillfully use their hands to make practical and purposeful things.

Before the current tenant, Tomas Bromley, the building was a maker space for a joiner. Interestingly, it was timber that gave Tomas his own enterprising idea.

“I have been a landscape gardener and I used to get the tree logs and whittle spoons out of them, so I suppose that is where the spoon idea came from. Then I saw a metal spoon and I thought I would have a go,” he says.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Tomas’s foray into the forge that he has now was a result of extensive research involving reading and viewing online techniques. “I am quite good at looking at things and figuring out how to make them,” he says.

Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.
Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.

Fortunately for Tomas, a retiring blacksmith who worked close by offered to sell him his tools and, in doing so, enabled him to carry on where he left off, ensuring the West Yorkshire spa town continues to have this traditional hands-on craft.

Within the spacious workspace that Tomas shares with his father Paul (known as Bromo), a retired engineer, keen upcycler, restorer and repairer, four anvils occupy the floor space along with some ornate railings – some of Tomas’s previous fabrication and metalwork productions ready for dispatch.

Father and son have been known to collaborate on projects. The restoration of the lantern at Ilkley Manor House, a museum and art gallery in Castle Yard, was, possibly, their most ambitious so far.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A framed certificate from Ilkley Civic Society, acknowledging their involvement in the conservation of the historic lantern in 2022, stands proudly on the workbench beneath the metal letters spelling out Rayners and mounted on the wall – another find in the blacksmith’s forge uniting the past with the present day.

Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.
Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.

Dating back to the 1920s, the lantern is a feature of the Ilkley Manor House frontage. Bromo explains that he and his son researched the history of the lantern, which took them 170 hours to restore to its original condition. The process of its restoration is also the focus of a YouTube video that the pair filmed capturing the skill and techniques involved in this impressive project for the benefit of the community.

Once the lantern was returned and reinstated at the Manor House, the original tools they used were put on display, as Bromo explains: “They are old-fashioned imperial spanners and threads.”

The aforementioned tools, tongs and horseshoe vices, among the many purchased from the blacksmith’s forge, form part of an extensive collection used for the various smithing duties hanging around the walls of the workspace and ready to be put into action on the culinary implements and kitchenware that Tomas is busy creating for Burnt Orchid.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Established three years ago, he explains that the business is named after a flower. “I did a little bit of research and I think it is a wild orchid found in Yorkshire,” says Tomas.

Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.
Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.

Apparently a rare species it is, in a sense, relatable to the unique and individual pieces Tomas skillfully forges from stainless steel, copper and brass.

Six copper ladles, some of the pieces he has produced earlier, glimmer aloft the workbench, adding a touch of decadence to the industrial interior.

Polished to perfection by Bromo who, when we met, is placing a pair of ships lamps he has purchased from an online marketplace on the workbench ready to be repurposed on a pair of wooden tripods as trendy interior illuminations, the ladles are among the more popular culinary implements available online through the Burnt Orchid website.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Laid out neatly on another bench, coffee scoops and serving spoons, teaspoon measurements and tablespoon measurements and salad servers – another popular purchase – have been skilfully forged, all by hand, and from a range of materials sourced, as much as possible, within the UK.

Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.
Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks. Picture: James Hardisty.

Marshmallow forks and carbon steel candlesticks line another workbench.

Their creation from tools passed down from one blacksmith to another ties in beautifully with their purpose to be used, but also to be passed on as gifts and keepsakes to be enjoyed by generations.

“He started with teaspoons and coffee spoons for coffee shops and people started buying them,” says Bromo, who expresses his pride in Tomas and his other son.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“He moved into ladles as people started buying them as wedding presents. They will go down the generations.”

Demonstrating and explaining the process of producing his culinary implements, including dishes, woks and spreading knives, Tomas takes a round rod of stainless steel, which, he explains, he cuts into the required lengths to suit the size of spoon handle that he is forging.

The metal is then forged out in the gas forge. Once heated, the melted metal can be hammered and manipulated into shape on the anvil. When this process is complete, the handle is then placed on the belt grinder to remove any rough areas. “Then it is a lot of polishing and sanding down,” adds Tomas.

Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley (right) of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks, catting with his dad Paul, (left). Picture: James Hardisty.Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley (right) of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks, catting with his dad Paul, (left). Picture: James Hardisty.
Blacksmith and metalworker Tom Bromley (right) of Ilkley, who creates beautiful culinary pieces; copper spoons, coffee scoops, carbon steel candlesticks, catting with his dad Paul, (left). Picture: James Hardisty.

Creating the copper ladle involves taking a square sheet of copper and cutting out a disc to the required measurement. After heating the disc, Tomas uses a specially shaped tool to shape it in an annealing process, which is repeated several times, as he explains: “The disc is heated up and quenched in water and hammered down.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Turning the ladle over, Tomas says the hammered effect is created by slotting a stake into one of the horseshoe vices and planishing the metal. The handle is attached to the ladle with individual rivets which not only add strength but also form part of the decorative detail in the finished design.

“Six ladles takes two days to make,” he says. “Spoons, kitchenware items and cutlery are what I want to be doing every day, creative making.”

Swiping his phone screen, Bromo proudly reveals a photograph of a table – its metal legs intricately forged by Tomas, whose skills aren’t limited to kitchenware.

Bespoke furniture for indoor and outdoor spaces, bars and beer pumps, fencing and gates, garden ornaments, shelving, worktops and countertops are among Tomas’s many productions.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I like the freedom of the job, that is what draws me to it and being able to make things with my hands is quite special in itself – being hands-on with things,” he says.

The enjoyment of repairing, restoring and transforming is clearly an inherited passion. “I like making things from what seems like nothing into something that is really nice. That is what draws me to it as well.”

As well as his website, Tomas sells his kitchenware at local markets and at Community Cutlery in Ilkley. Last year, for the first time, he participated in the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, one of the largest and prestigious shopping events for craft in the UK, at Victoria Baths in Manchester. It provided the perfect opportunity to introduce his culinary productions to a wider audience.

The popularity of such ornate implements, he believes, stems from the growing interest in cooking. “Everyone puts a lot of effort into cooking nice meals, and making sure it is sustainable and organic, for family and friends. It is nice to serve it with something that is handmade and sustainably made to last, something you can pass down the generations as well.”

www.burntorchid.co.uk

Related topics:
News you can trust since 1754
Follow us
©National World Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.Cookie SettingsTerms and ConditionsPrivacy notice