Meet the Country’s Only Female Coppersmith

2021-12-25 01:58:02 By : Ms. RST Janey

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Sarah Dahmen became fascinated with copper while researching a book—now, it’s her full-time job.

Sara Dahmen’s track to a career in coppersmithing was…unexpected, to say the least. She was working on a historical fiction novel (a distraction from her day job as a wedding planner) when she “went down the rabbit hole” researching for a book, says the Wisconsin-based creative. “Some people go down the rabbit hole during research—really went down it—and I guess I never came back,” she laughs.

While reading about the art of copper making, she was struck by how close the trade was to dying out. “I realized so much of it wasn’t being made in America anymore—you couldn’t go into town and get your pot fixed,” she recalls.

So, Dahmen set about changing that. After apprenticing with a tinsmith, she went out on her own, founding House Copper in 2015. She hand-crafts her copper cookware and tableware from a forge in her home garage (and sources necessary parts and materials from other handcrafters in the U.S.), then ships it across the country to its new homes.

Dahmen’s primary focus is pots and pans—because there’s a market for them, but also because they’re what most captivated her interest in that initial research phase. “I found cookware to be so interesting because women were always the ones in the kitchen,” she muses. “Throughout history, this was their world.”

This eye towards the historic is constantly shaping Dahmen’s work—even when she’s pairing it with more modern technology. “I look at items from the 17, 1800s, and think, ‘how can I do that with a more modern tool, or a modern method?’” she says.

For Dahmen, this continuation craft is of the utmost importance; it’s why she recently participated in an Artisan Exchange at Colonial Williamsburg, part of the museum’s Craft & Forge program, aimed at connecting historic techniques with modern-day makers. While there, she apprenticed in the tin shop, shaping cups on an anvil that wasn't dissimilar to the ones in her home workshop. “It was a little like getting to live history in another layer,” Dahmen says of the experience.

Weaving those different layers together is what Dahmen does best, marrying age-old techniques with marketing on Instagram and sales via e-commerce. Because, as Dahmen sees it, blending the old and the new isn’t just a way to create a legacy; it’s a valuable tool for creating a forward-thinking business. “There is a massive value in knowing where you came from,” she says. “It is the way of humanity to pass on that knowledge.”

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