The travelling foundry
What we do
Education
At the Ore and Ingot workshop, we teach hands-on foundry skills and knowledge, allowing students to work from the beginning of the process to the casting of a realised bronze sculpture. Go to our courses page to find out more.
We also work on a one-to-one basis with artists and makers to help them realise their projects whether this is casting a memorial for a loved one, or empowering students with the knowledge to set up a commercial foundry.
Bell casting
Bells are our specialism for Ore and Ingot. We have cast bells at people’s weddings with an on-site wedding ceremony, creating a spectacular hybrid of theatre and art, through the creation of a bell. With our hand-made customised travelling foundry, we can cast bells anywhere in the UK.
We have cast bells in the middle of the Nevada desert for the Burning Man festival and for HRH The Prince of Wales. Click on our bells or wedding bells page for more info on our services and activities.
The travelling foundry
About
Ore and ingot is run by David Snoo Wilson. Wilson specialises in bell casting and is one of only a handful of bell-casters still active in this country. He has bells in the Royal household of the Prince Of Wales, among other places. In 2014 Wilson received the Winston Churchill Travel Fellowship to research bell foundries in central Europe and he traveled around eastern Europe to explore ways in which the performance could be incorporated with the process of metal casting. Over the years he has received funding for his research and development into bells from Arts Council England, and the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust.
As an educator and technician Wilson has worked at the Royal College of Art, at the foundry. Internationally he has run courses and workshops across European universities sharing his knowledge of metal casting.
Ore and Ingot was set up in 2012 by David Snoo Wilson and Jo Lathwood. Lathwood has since left but can still be seen in the workshop from time to time getting her hands dirty.
Images Nick Caro, Asia Werbel, Paul Blakemore