In the poem The Village Blacksmith, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow offers this description of the blacksmith. 

“His hair is crisp and black and long, His face is like the tan. His brow is wet with honest sweat. He earns whate’er he can. And he looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man.”

Granted the poem was written in 1840. But even now, for many, the word “blacksmith” brings to mind a burly guy wearing a stained outfit, swinging a giant hammer at a glowing hot piece of steel.

Annie Cole Arthur may have the stained outfit, glowing steel and giant hammer, but the stereotype ends there. Arthur is a respected blacksmith at Robert Thomas Iron Design who often leads teams of blacksmiths forging metal into carefully crafted ironware. Based in Charleston, she and her team create limited edition carbon steel skillets and roasters for Smithey, the Jedi Masters of ironware used by great chefs like Jacques Pépin and Alton Brown. 

In fact, each Smithey piece that Arthur and her team create has been forged by hand. Arthur especially loves how they make things that people actually use. “It’s not just a pretty thing to hang on your shelf but a functional item,” she says.

Arthur belongs to the Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths. Started by 11 professional female blacksmiths from around the world, the group seeks to foster diversity, equity and inclusion into the field. “They are trying to uplift the voices of blacksmiths or people who want to get involved in blacksmithing and are not your stereotypical blacksmith,” says Arthur.

“There are a fair number of women doing this work,” adds Arthur, who took her first blacksmithing lessons from a woman. “You don’t see a lot of women, but they are out there and they tend to be a bit humble.”

Growing up in Lookout Mountain, Georgia Arthur always had a passion for art and science. “I graduated high school thinking that I was going to live the life of a starving artist and wouldn’t go to college,” she shares. “I had these grand dreams but ended up doing zero art and was cooking at a restaurant making minimum wage, absolutely miserable.”

She knew that she was meant to do something different. Thinking about the things that gave her a buzz, she adored the wood shop and dark room photography classes she took in middle and high school. “I loved the combination of art, math, science and very tactile things,” says Arthur. “I like to get my hands dirty.” 

Arthur became fascinated by metal and what it took to make metal move. She knew there were things called “blacksmithing,” “forging” and “welding.” But she didn’t know what any of it was nor difference between them. She learned about the American College of Building Arts and had her heart set on going. “My parents wouldn’t even pay the application fee until I tried blacksmithing,” she shares. “I couldn’t afford the application fee because I was hardly making money.” 

Ultimately Arthur found a blacksmith, took a few lessons and was completely hooked. love with it. She finally went to the American College of Building Arts graduating valedictorian. “I mean, there were only seven people,” she says. 

Arthur became a full-time blacksmith in 2017 working at Robert Thomas Iron Design where she did her final internship. Within two years they began prototyping skillets with Smithey. Most of my mentors in blacksmithing are men,” says Arthur. “But I want to be the role model for somebody who I never really had.”

Her favorite part of her craft is the actual, traditional blacksmithing work, called forging. Forging is when metal is heated up and shaped with a hammer. “It becomes malleable, similar to clay,” explains Arthur. “I love taking a standardized sized bar, cutting it, changing its shape and molding it. I love trying to stretch myself.” 

While she is devoted to uplifting women’s voices, she doesn’t want people to view her differently because she is a woman. “It makes me unique, but it doesn’t make me special,” she says. “I’m a human hitting hot metal. I don’t want to be a good woman blacksmith. I want to be a good blacksmith. The fact that I happen to be a woman has nothing to do with it. I’m here, swinging with the best of them.”