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SYDNEY, N.S. — Matthew Prince is humble about his craft.
“I’m not an expert blacksmith,” he starts to say to the Cape Breton Post before being interrupted by a cruise ship passenger from Tennessee.
“Oh yes you are,” said the man, as he looked at Prince’s goods at his new Port of Sydney kiosk.
The man continues to tell Prince he collects work from blacksmiths around the world and that Prince’s expert craftsmanship is apparent.
Prince, formerly of Dominion, is the owner and operator of Murky Fathoms Forged; a business that the Sydney resident never thought he would be running successfully.
“I didn’t know if anybody would buy any of this stuff when I went to the first craft market but people bought all of it,” he said with a half-smile.
“At the Christmas market, I only had so much. I was selling so much stuff and making so much money I had to start going to other craft markets and making more stuff. … My mind is blown; it’s like a dream come true.”
Exhibition and store
Prince started learning blacksmithing, the craft of metalworking with tools like hammer and anvil, when he had a farm. On the urging of his partner, Prince got a vendor spot at the Cape Breton Farmers’ Market Christmas fair in 2002.
The demand for his work which include metal roses, Thor keychains and rune pendants, was evident and Prince opened up shop at other craft and artisan fairs.
At a Centre 200 fair, Prince met Jordan Pike, the port’s marketing and retail co-ordinator, who was there scouting two vendors for the Port of Sydney’s Christmas market.
Pike bought the Thor keychain and thought Murky Fathoms Forged would be a good fit. Prince accepted the invitation to be a vendor there.
“From there, we just kind of talked amongst ourselves in the office and then thought it would be a really cool idea if he would be interested to become one of our tenants, not only sell his product here but display his craft,” said Pike.
‘Unique addition’
Prince was asked to make a proposal and told his shanty could be half shop, half foraging workshop. In his lucky black hat and blacksmith clothing, Prince will work on new pieces or do demonstrations for cruise ship passengers.
“We thought it was a really unique addition to add to our already very unique mix,” said Pike.
Designed by Prince, the Murky Fathoms Forged shanty is made of wood from a sawmill in Mira. The steel is also from local sources, something Prince said is important to him.
“Those trees stood over the Mira River,” he said, pointing to the walls inside the shop.
Earlier, Prince spoke about the roof, a style he wanted to use because it was like a Glace Bay ‘company home,’ a piece of Cape Breton heritage.
“It’s those details that no one knows about that are really important to me,” he said. “Supporting local is also really important to me.”
Being able to do demonstrations of his work in front of people is also important to Prince, as it allows him to show customers his work is truly handcrafted, not just labelled that.
“I love doing it. I love making stuff so for me, doing something that I love, where you don’t hate coming to work, I love it,” Prince said. “It makes me happy.”
Murky Fathoms Forged is open when cruise ships are in port. The cruise ship schedule can be found on the Port of Sydney’s website.
You can also find Murky Fathom Forged on Instagram at murky_fathoms_forged.