In 2014, Adam Ashworth went through a very difficult family tragedy when both his parents died in a house fire which destroyed the family home. He was just months away from his GCSE exams and his whole world changed.
Adam, from Leeds, spoke to LeedsLive about his journey through a very difficult period until now, learning to be a blacksmith and woodworker and even creating his own business off the back of his talent. His story begins following his first year at university.
He grew up in Garforth and was always fascinated by the outdoors. He went to scouts, did archery and bird spotting and spent as much time working with his hands as he could.
Adam was also incredibly gifted at school, gaining four A* grades in sixth form and then going on to study at Nottingham University to do physics. But Adam already had his reservations about the course, wondering if it was really right for him.
Following his loss, Adam had to find a new place to live and spent a lot of time at his girlfriend's house. It was here in the garage he began crafting woodworking pieces and slowly began working towards a new full-time passion.
He said: "I'd always liked messing around with my hands but I never took it seriously because I never really had anyone to show me what to do, I'd often spend time messing around with my dad's tools in the garage at home.
'It's what my mum would have wanted, me to have a job that I enjoy'
"Then when I moved in with my grandparents, he was more experienced, he had a huge garage full of tools so I was definitely feeling inspired by then."
When Adam began his studies at Nottingham he started to think about a possible alternative route. He didn't have the space at uni to work as he could and when the university turned down his suggestion of creating a woodworking society he began to make contacts.
He said: "Then I discovered a niche of woodworking called green woodworking, which is working with wood when it's still wet and freshly cut down
"Throughout the first year I had my hesitations, I was thinking 'I'm not really feeling this' compared to my A-Levels, I was one amongst about 300 people and it just felt so impersonal, that I really struggled to pay attention so I felt very detached."
By his second year, he had decided it really wasn't what he wanted to do and by this point, he had already met a blacksmith who then became his mentor. He asked him for a job in the workshop and started to commit more time to his new hobby.
He took a year out of university to really make up his mind, saying: "I said to myself, 'if physics isn't for me, then what is?' I knew I liked woodworking and forestry but it was really hard to make a living out of it."
To make use of his time away from studies, Adam found another blacksmith in Nottingham who let him work and train with him for a year. This is when things began to really take off.
Adam does not regard himself as self-taught in the slightest, thanking Nic and James, his mentors, for showing him how to do what he does. Using his skills he decided to make his hobby full-time, creating a business called Ash and Iron in the summer of 2019, to sell his pieces which are now sold globally.
"After about four of five months working with James, I was messing about with the idea of making knives so during the summer I asked my brother for a job packing uniforms, so I went to work there for a bit but my mentor said 'why don't you just make knives?'
"My concern was what sort of job could I get without a degree? I could have stuck with physics and earned a lot from it but that's why I decided to leave it behind because I didn't enjoy it, I thought it would be more beneficial to have a job that I would enjoy,
"It's what my mum would have wanted, for me to have a job that I enjoy, rather than not," Adam said.
He now has a workshop in Ledston, just outside Garforth, where he spends every day forging knives and tools to sell on his website. He spends around eight hours a day using anvils, forges, power hammers and grinders to create some truly incredible pieces.
He spoke about what it is like to run a full-time blacksmith business alongside the worries that come with it. The work has never gotten easier for him, especially due to Brexit but his business has begun to pick up again.
He said: "I don't think I've ever got less worried about the work, because of the nature of it, I don't have a salary so my income changes from month to month, in the first year it was really good but the second year as hard because a lot of my orders are international I had to start paying import duties.
"It definitely did slow down. I'm in the incredibly privileged position to not require a mortgage so it's less worrying for me but it still makes me anxious."
Adam says he will continue to hone his craft until he can no longer work, his business is pretty niche, most of the blacksmiths in the country are artists making gates or sculptures but for Adam, his tools are made to be used by others in a practical way. He checks his products over and over to make sure they are perfect and because he works alone he can watch the whole process from start to finish.
Going forwards he hopes to see his work used in historical reenactments, film or television shows. Every year he works to improve his skills and expand his workshop.
