Junko Mori is a metalworker who creates intricate, organic sculptures in her workshop in North Wales.

She was born and grew up in Yokohama, Japan. Her father was an engineer, her mother a school nurse - and both of their professions had a lasting influence on her work and thinking, as did digging in her grandmother’s veg patch with her hands in the dirt.

Junko’s work is inspired by nature, particularly microworlds, and her pieces come together as a result of hundred, sometimes thousands, of tiny pieces welded together patiently over long periods of time.

Like Heather McLarty in my last conversation, Junko believes the imperfect nature of forged work is very important, but she takes this idea even further and neither the individual pieces or finished form of her sculptures are planned. Instead they all shape themselves and each other as a result of the making process.

Junko is fascinated by the human mind and took time away from her metalwork to study and write about the impact of minor repetitive movements on how our brains work and our mental health.You can find out more about Junko’s work and the projects she’s involved in here:

* Junko’s website

* Junko’s Instagram

* TRIONGL - a short film

* Highlights at Design Miami 2024

If you enjoy this episode, you might also enjoy my conversation with Heather McLarty

Heather McLarty started out in making props for theatre, travelling round and living all over North America before a combination of dogged determination and serendipity landed her in the craft of blacksmithing.She is now a highly skilled smith who also believes that the craft is about much more than just making stuff - describing her work as ‘transforming industrial materials into soulful sculpture using fire, anvil and hammers, mind, body and heart’ and insisting that all work has to ‘make someone’s life better.’

In this conversation we talk about her journey through the craft and what she’s learned along the way including how to go all in on your gut, doing great things with very little kit, what it means to live life as a work of art and what smacking bits of metal tells us about our shared humanity.

We also explore what it’s like to be a woman in a craft that’s often dominated by men, how that can sometimes be an advantage, and what makes it more possible (and more difficult) for underrepresented people to feel comfortable and confident.

You can find out more about Heather’s work and the projects she’s involved in here:

* Heather’s website

* Heather’s Instagram

* Adam’s Forge

* The Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths

If you enjoy this episode, you might also enjoy my conversation with Joy Fire

Pete Brasspenninx is an innovative smith based in Michigan who makes beautiful - and at times mind-bending - work.

His practice puts an emphasis on experimentation and pushing processes as far as they’ll go, but at times evokes feelings of connection and introspection, inviting us to dig a bit deeper and ask ourselves what matters.

We talked about finding who you are, about running away and coming home, about compassion and empathy, about the heavier side of being human and - of course - about his practice and journey.

Please check out Pete’s work, follow him on social media and support what he does:

* Phyre Forge website

* Phyre Forge on Instagram

* Phyre Forge on Facebook

In this conversation I’m talking to Joy Fire, forging out of Orange County, California.

We touched on diversity and inclusion, mental health and identity, why we just have to make stuff and gender roles, amongst other things.

Joy is an artist and designer whose work spans large scale commissions to intimate objects. Her work emphasizes and celebrates the physicality of everyday existence. Each hand forged piece offers the opportunity of physical experience through personal interaction.

Joy has been forging and fabricating functional and fine art metalwork for over a decade. She runs her own boutique studio, Joy Fire Studio, where she works on commissioned pieces and forges objects of her own design.

Check out her work and the initiatives she mentions during our conversation:

* Joy’s personal website

* Joy on Instagram

* Society of Inclusive Blacksmiths

* Sparc: BIPOC Smiths Retreat

Joy’s book - ‘Contemporary Blacksmithing: a handbook of tools, techniques and projects for the beginner’ is in the works and will be published in the near future.

Links to posts and podcasts I’ve referenced in today’s audio:

Start the week: Allergies and the microbiome (podcast)

Scientists raise alarm about threats to the human microbiome (article)

Invisible Extinction (film)

Half The Gut Microbes In Our Primate Ancestors Abandoned Us (article)

Dark Matter: The New Science of the Microbiome (book)

I’m on an inquiry - I have been for as long as I can remember.

It underpins every major decision (and a lot of minor ones) that I’ve made in the past decade.

It’s about conflict on a personal level - understanding why that shows up and what it has to tell me - and about conflict at a global level - why we humans are butting up against each other and our environment in ever-more destructive ways.

This podcast series is an opportunity for me to explore all these things, out loud.