The art of blacksmithing is a dying profession in the country. In Paro, the valley of Wochu was once famous for making swords, has only three blacksmiths.
Realising this His Majesty The King commanded for a training centre to be set up to revive the art. The centre is now established and works are underway to further develop it.
The iron craft centre started around two months ago.
The centre has employed the three men to share their skills with their apprentices.
The works start from 8:30 in the morning and goes on till 4 PM.
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The centre has only two students.
Tandin, 40, is one of them. He says he joined the centre since this could be a profitable profession. He admits that it has been fun trying to learn the skills.
“I joined thinking it would be helpful in the future. My previous works was to fell timber using power chains which was very tiring and there was no future in that work.”
The other student is Shraddha Basode, who came all the way from India to learn the skill. Shraddha says she intends to make a career from making traditional iron objects, such as the sword, she is currently learning to make. She came to Bhutan after she found it hard to find teachers in India.
“India was my first option but I found it very difficult as the teachers there are not willing to teach, and once you don’t have willing teachers, you don’t really improve much.”
More students are expected to join the centre in the coming weeks.
At present, the centre is only for those from Wochu Community.
However, once the centre is moved to its bigger structure, which is currently under renovations, interested individuals from other regions in Paro will also be taken in.
