The award-winning Yorkshire blacksmith who has built up her empire from tiny unit in Whitby

In a small unit on Hinderwell Industrial Estate, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, Katie has spent the last five years building up an award-winning blacksmith’s business.

Her products - all inspired by her passion for nature and the outdoors – are now owned by customers in countries including France, Portugal, and the USA.

To create a sense of the amazing diligence which goes into all her work, Katie explains: “I’ll start with my sketchbook, but then as the designs progress I’ll use French chalk on a large metal table.

“I’ll draw it out to scale on there, which means that whilst I’m working with hot metals, I can place my work on top of the table and compare it with my drawing. Once I’ve got it stood upright in 3D, I can walk around it and make sure every angle is exactly right. At that point I don’t so much have a drawing, it’s just a case of looking at the model.”

She continues: “I do a lot of research so for example if I’m making specific animals then I’ll investigate them thoroughly because you’ll find out things you didn’t know about them.

“I once made a woodpecker and having looked at it from every angle I was sure I had it exactly right. I shared some images on social media and someone said whilst the sculpture was fantastic, I’d got the feet wrong! I never knew but instead of being like normal birds which have three toes at the front and one at the back, they have two at the front and two at the back!”

Indeed, this attention to detail recently won Kate the prestigious Art Award from the Galvanizers Association.

The prestigious accolade is awarded to “the most compelling use of galvanized steelwork in contemporary art and the built environment.”

Having been commissioned to mark 50 years of the operation of Boulby mine in East Cleveland, Katie created an impressive sculpture of a miner carrying the type of equipment used in the early days and sitting at a replica ‘bait table,’ made of laser-cut stainless steel, which also has a map of the mine to help people visualise the site.

This sculpture is now Katie’s proudest piece of work.

She says: “It’s fair to say that I enjoy all my work, but this was the first time I’d tried human representation working on my own, and I really had the time to concentrate and get it right.”

So, what’s it like working in an environment where her forge burns at temperature often exceeding 2000 degrees Celsius?

Katie explains: “It’s a very dirty environment and it’s deep grime. I’ve really been looking forward to the Christmas holidays because that’s the only period I get when I get time to have enough baths to really soak all my pores!"

Looking ahead to the future, Katie remains positive about her business’ continued success.

She concludes: When I started up, I worried month on month as to whether I’d get enough orders coming in.

“Fortunately, I’ve now got a lot of nice commissions, and I’m booked up for about the next year and a half. Whilst people might still cancel things and I’ll have to move things around, it’s still an extremely comfortable position to be in.”