Cloverdale Forge

With over 40 years of combined metalworking experience, Matt Jenkins and Karen Rudolph use traditional tools and techniques while designing to fit modern day needs for the home, cabin, kitchen, and garden. Dedicated to the design process, Matt and Karen work with clients to build custom crafted works.

Matt Jenkins

Matt Jenkins spent childhood watching his father craft the world around him as nights and weekends were spent building a log home. As a young adult, Matt worked in the blacksmith shop at Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site as well as the home forge on the family farm outside of Selkirk, Manitoba, the same location where he forges today.

Having picked up a hammer up at an early age, Matt feels at home in a room full of tools and around an anvil. Over the past 25 years, he has honed his skills and techniques while studying under master smiths around North America.

Matt Jenkins is an internationally recognized award-winning blacksmith. In 2009, he and Paul Garrett received an Honorable Mention in the team category at the World Forging Championship in Stia, Italy. Returning to Stia in 2015, Matt took home the first place medal in Drawing and Design.

Using handtools and early industrial equipment, Matt creates designs with the timeless feel of handmade work. Throughout the year, he leads workshops at Cloverdale Forge, teaches at the John C. Campbell Folk School, and demonstrates at the Festival du Voyageur.

Karen “Rudy” Rudolph

A friend introduced Karen Rudolph to blacksmithing in the late 1990’s; she made a hook and was forever hooked on the forging process. In the early 2000’s she honed her metalsmithing skills and gained an appreciation of how metal reveals its personality with each hammer blow while studying alongside a variety of master smiths at the John C. Campbell Folk School located in Western North Carolina. These experiences lead to a diverse portfolio, one that fuses classic designs and modern sensibilities. Her inspiration is informed by travel, microscopic images of the natural world, and items originally designed for one-time-use.

Before joining Cloverdale Forge she worked as an arts administrator, directing the Craft Program at Warren Wilson College and as the Resident Blacksmith at the John C. Campbell Folks School.