Hand-crafted iron work: Milwaukee Blacksmith is a family-owned and operated business



MILWAUKEE -- Brian Kramp spent the morning at Milwaukee Blacksmith -- which is a family-owned and operated business.





About Milwaukee Blacksmith (Facebook page)

Kent and I have been together for 25 years. As our eldest approaches 22 years old, we have just welcomed our 6th baby. Starting out young, we worked many jobs to support ourselves over the years. We have always made a point to find joy in what we do to earn a living, even in entry level positions. Kent's pursuit of the arts led him to blacksmithing. As a young man, he was introduced to the craft and it caught hold. He served as an apprentice on and off for a cumulative decade, learning the basics through repetition and thousands of hours of grunt work.

Toiling over fire and anvil to hone his skills working in iron fit right in with his love of this city and her architecture. He's spent years studying our founding fathers, the brewers and builders that gave Milwaukee her distinct look. He shares that passion with every member of our family. You can't drive anywhere in this town without passing a building that Kent knows the history of and will tell you all about. By age 10, our boys could take you on a tour and would be able to tell you if the ironwork on a building was done by Cyril Colnik, the master blacksmith in Milwaukee 100 years ago. Our personal story *is* our business because our business is our family.