Coppersmithing: researching ancient origins, traditional techniques & modern contexts
By Sian Evans, 4 August 2021
Fellow's Profile
Sian Evans
Fellow's Profile
Sian Evans
Coppersmithing: researching ancient origins, traditional techniques and modern contexts
Fellowship
- Themes
- Focus
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Preserving the art of coppersmithing by discovering its origins and encouraging new smiths
- Countries
- Fellowship year
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2011
- Locality
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South East
Contact
Biography
My work as a professional craftsperson began in 1991 with a four-year apprenticeship at a forge in Pevensey – and I still make bespoke copperwork to this day, taking private commissions and exhibiting work at shows and galleries.
Coppersmithing is featured in the Red List of Endangered Crafts, and my Churchill Fellowship was inspired by my unusual skillset. Between 2011 and 2012 I travelled to France, Greece and India to meet other metalworkers, and I learned more about traditional coppersmithing techniques, their ancient origins and modern uses of the craft.
In 2019 I represented Great Britain at the first UNESCO International Festival of Handicrafters in Uzbekistan, and here I discovered more global ideas about protecting intangible cultural heritage, particularly craft skills like coppersmithing. In 2025 I completed a PhD in archaeology, researching the unacknowledged contribution of female metalworkers in archaeometallurgy, and was also able to contribute my coppersmithing skills to ongoing experimental research.
I continue to develop and consolidate these strands of practical and academic knowledge in a way that will help coppersmithing to become more widely known and practised. My Churchill Fellowship taught me the value of my practise as a coppersmith, and also the joys of sharing my skills.
Ideas
Activity
February 2026 Fellows' update: Siân Evans
Siân Evans (CF 2011) recently graduated from the University of Sheffield with a PhD in archaeology. Her multidisciplinary research focused on female-made metal artefacts from the Imperial War Museum - and asked how gender provenance is understood in archaeometallurgy and how the culture of metalworking skills is curated and transmitted.
By Sian Evans, 18 February 2026
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
Ideas
Coppersmithing: researching ancient origins, traditional techniques & modern contexts
By Sian Evans, 4 August 2021
Activity
February 2026 Fellows' update: Siân Evans
Siân Evans (CF 2011) recently graduated from the University of Sheffield with a PhD in archaeology. Her multidisciplinary research focused on female-made metal artefacts from the Imperial War Museum - and asked how gender provenance is understood in archaeometallurgy and how the culture of metalworking skills is curated and transmitted.
By Sian Evans, 18 February 2026
Disclaimer
All Reports are copyright © the author. The moral right of the author has been asserted. The views and opinions expressed by any Fellow are those of the Fellow and not of the Churchill Fellowship or its partners, which have no responsibility or liability for any part of them.
