Juan José Gómez Delgado – Forja Lebrija

DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK

Forja Lebrija is an artisanal workshop located in Lebrija, Sevilla, declared by the Andalusian administration as a place of artisanal interest in Andalusia. 

The man behind it is Juan José Gómez Delgado, who has been carrying out his activity related to forging since 1986. He was given the title of Master Craftsman on 28 December 2015 by the Consejero de Empleo, Empresa y Comercio of the Junta de Andalucía. He was a disciple of the Australian architect and designer Donald Gray (Rafael Manzano Prize for Traditional Architecture 2015).

His products are elaborated in an artisanal way, highlighting as their most important qualities the correct use of the production techniques, the quality of the materials used in their manufacture, the quality of their finishing and the perfection and artistic richness of the final products. As a result, on 18 January 2017, the Junta de Andalucía granted him use of the quality label “Andalucía Calidad Artesanal” for all the traditional wrought iron grilles forged in his workshop (gates, balconies, handrails, fences and grilles). 

Forja Lebrija is continuously researching to develop a product which best-fits the current tendencies of the market, applying innovative elements to the traditional Andalusian wrought iron grilles. 

All this is possible only because Forja Lebrija is made up of a team of professional, committed and passionate people who are involved in a common project and who have the strong will to continue giving the best of them every day. 

Wrought iron grilles receive a different name depending on where in the building they are placed: gates, grilles, balconies, handrails and fences. The materials they use are solid iron profiles with different shapes and measurements. The dimensions of the pieces to be forged (width, thickness, longitude, among others) adapt to the needs of the project, choosing and using the techniques of cutting, stretching, broadening, and reducing, among others, by means of working with the forge and the anvil, using templates or references and carrying out small adjustments, to obtain the precise specifications established in the project.

The final shape of the project is obtained by choosing and using specific techniques such as curving, folding, upsetting and clefting among others, and working the material at the forge and the anvil to guarantee it adjusts to the final requirements of the project. 

The position of the pieces is controlled by means of progressive welding, carrying out one first spot welding, avoiding this way to overheat the areas where the welding is carried out, to ensure  that no deformations occur. The rivets are placed verifying their dimensions and making sure there are no backlashes and movement between the pieces to be joined together and the rivet itself, in order to guarantee its adequate functioning. 

The manual coating is carried out by specific techniques such as filing, brushing and sanding, among others. Regarding the treatments which are applied to these materials, heating is the only one which is used in the manufacture of each of the pieces. 

The heating of the piece produces changes in the colour of the metals, which varies depending on the temperature they reach. The nuances of the colours may help us to know the temperature that the iron is reaching, being 900ºC the ideal temperature to work the material, with a yellowish red kind of colour, and also 1000ºC, when iron turns an orangey colour. 

Forja Lebrija has improved – during these last years – the systems to control and evaluate the quality of the products, to be able to identify more effectively the possible problems which could arise in all the necessary processes.