We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Paul Diefenderfer a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Paul, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
About 20 years ago I was walking thru an art festival in Cave Creek and was intrigued by a guy selling forged ironwork. He had a propane forge and was making items for sale. When he pulled the glowing orange iron out of the forge and started hammering it on the anvil I knew I wanted to do this. I told him I would work for free if he would teach me. He was from out of town but told me about the local blacksmithing club. I joined and have been pounding iron ever since. After a couple years of blacksmithing as a hobby I started doing it full time.

Paul, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I create both functional art work (hooks, railings, gates, etc) and sculptural items. My designs tend to be simple “organic” forms. My specialty is creating artistic pieces that solve a structural need. Example: a railing that looks like a vine growing along the stairs. So far the coolest project I have done is a 100 foot long pedestrian bridge for a home in Cave Creek. The clients wanted a “light weight” bridge that “floated” above the wash that needed to be crossed to get from the guest parking to the front door. The wash had never been disturbed and was heavily vegetated. I hand dug the holes for the support posts and hauled in 2 tons of concrete by bucket so I would not disturb the plants or weathered rocks. The beams, walkway and railings were then welded on a section at a time. The end result was beautiful and looked like it had been there for ages since the plants came right up to the bottom of the bridge. A few months after completion a wayward fire truck coasted down their driveway and onto the bridge. The first 10 feet of the 1in rebar railings and some of the decking was demolished but the bridge structure held the weight of the fire truck. The front end of the brand new fire truck did not do so well. My ability to be an artist that understands structural engineering sets me apart from most other metal workers.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
You need to embrace failure. If you aren’t willing to try something new, and thus have the potential to fail, you won’t generate the spark need to be really creative. Failure and success are two sides of the same coin.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The thrill of taking a boring plain piece of iron and thru the process of heating it to 2000 degrees and working it on the anvi; creating something beautiful and meaningful for a client.

Contact Info:

• Website: DesertRatForge.com

Image Credits
Paul Diefenderfer