About the Artist

My name is Julian.  From a young age I was obsessed with the worlds of fantasy - I adored the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and you couldn't tear me away from RPG videogames!  In 2003, at 13 years old, I told my parents I was to be a blacksmith.



After finding Iforgeiron.com, I got to work buying as many books and reading as many forum posts as possible.  I began with pit forges and railroad track, bending anything out of metal I could manage to heat up.  By 2005 I managed to scrape together enough money to get a real forge setup together and was spending every spare minute possible in the backyard.



After getting a selection of items to display, I hosted my first demonstration in 2006 at my high school's Renaissance faire.  Normally very shy, my passion for the craft was strong enough that I had no issue opening up to other people about what I did.  Most of the items I brought were sold and I dumped every penny back into the shop.

By 2007, I was travelling around the US meeting a variety of bladesmiths and blacksmiths.  Rich Hale, a revered Arizona knifemaker, took me under his wing and taught me how to make a proper custom knife.  I also met Daryl Meier, the man credited with brining back Damascus to the US ; inspired, I started making my own laminated steel.  Countless other artisans, for whom I cannot be grateful enough, contributed to my youthful passion such that I began making good enough blades to sell.

 

While earning an Art Education degree at the University of Arizona, I couldn't put the craft down for long, and sought out work with talented Tucson blacksmith David Flynn, cleverly working it into a few credit hours as an internship, and finding spare time to squeeze out a few knife commissions.



After finishing my degree, moving abroad to Canada for several years, and returning to Arizona in 2020, I worked tirelessly in order to buy a small homestead in Buckeye, Arizona with my wonderful partner Melody. 

 

 




It's here where we have built the Desert Rain Forge and continue the passion that began so many years ago. 

 

 

Thank you for supporting me in this lifelong goal, and sharing in the fruits of this labor.