Origins
From a garden shed with 2 moulding boxes to a full scale foundry.
Andrew's interest in foundries started during his school days. On his way to school, he would walk past Joseph Bloomer & Sons every day, a traditional cast iron jobbing foundry. The smoking cupola furnaces had an alluring smell. He was always intrigued to know what was happening within this vast factory.
One day, he simply walked in there and he was immediately mesmerised. The sight of white-hot, molten iron pouring out of huge cupola furnaces! Ladles of glowing, molten iron, suspended on overhead cranes, rumbled up and down the foundry. Liquid iron was being poured into moulds all over the factory floor. He was hooked!
Weeks later, not months or years, but weeks later, he cleared out the wooden shed at the bottom of the garden and much to the concern of his parents, he went about converting it into a foundry. Don't believe him? Ask his Mom, the stand-in furnaceman and caster!
Months went by, the flames and heat got higher, neighbours started peering over the fence, probably wondering what that 'industrial smell' was.
Years went by and after dozens of trips to the library and talking to some retired, seasoned foundrymen, he started to master the fundamentals of the trade. It was time to start his own foundry.
In the early 2000's he started his first, small-scale foundry (part-time) but the work kept coming in and he soon realised its potential. Quickly, he needed to upgrade from the Foundry Shed and eventually bought an industrial property in Brierley Hill. He still operates from here but has now outgrown this location too.
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