Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
Around 6,000 years ago, in the late Neolithic period, people found native copper and malachite and figured out how to make practical and beautiful things from it. Over the next one or two thousand years, the skill was developed, refined, and shared. Two thousand years ago, even before the Roman occupation, copper was systematically mined by the Celts in what are now Ireland, Scotland and England.
For thousands of years, from the Sumerians to the Scoti, metal smiths were smelting copper, first in small pits fueled by charcoal and covered with turf [watch the video], and eventually in purpose-built furnaces. Someone, long, long ago, possibly by accident, discovered that this "rock" could be heated and worked into functional tools or adornments, much like the copper axe that Ötzi the Ice Man carried. In the Copper Age, at least, these would most likely have indicated the wealth or status of the owner. The early metallurgists who created them were probably seen as workers of magic, turning dusty rock into brilliant metal.
Since then, mankind has built on the knowledge of every preceding generation, and we now have immense operations for mining, smelting, shaping and delivering copper. We rely on it to bring us water and electricity, and occasionally to enjoy a Moscow Mule. One can stop by the local home improvement store and find it by the truckload in various forms and for various uses; most of it very utilitarian, and so commonplace that we rarely see it as special anymore.
Alongside its more practical development, artists and artisans have been using this workable metal to create everything from drinking vessels and jewelry to scrolls bearing clues to find buried treasure. From forging and annealing to repoussé and chasing, our ancestors have unleashed their creative power and left complex, symbolic and soulful works for modern-day humans to unearth and study. We marvel at the level of skill and artistry with which ancient artisans crafted these pieces without the aid of modern machines and technology, and we experiment to recreate just how they did it.
All of that discovery, experimentation, learning, technology, and pure artistic genius has led to today. Here in the One artisan, captivated by the vein of copper that leads back to ancient peoples, enchanted by the sophisticated designs they created, and spellbound by this warm and primitively alluring metal, crafting practical and beautiful things in honor of those who've gone before.
