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In a modest metal shop in New Orleans’ 7th Ward, the clang of hammer on steel reverberates through time. Here, in the blistering heat of the forge, blacksmith Darryl Reeves coaxes molten iron into elegant, functional shapes such as shutter guards, fence posts, and custom latches. Each one is crafted with centuries-old skill and deep reverence. These are not pieces you will find at a local hardware store. They are artifacts of memory and cultural continuity.
As a journalist who has covered artisans and architectural preservation across Louisiana, I have witnessed many forms of craft. Few, however, are as deeply entwined with ancestral knowledge as Darryl’s work. Reeves is more than a master of metal. He is a 2024 Louisiana Tradition Bearer, one of six honorees selected by the Louisiana Folklife Commission and the Louisiana Folklife Society for preserving cultural practices.
Inside his shop, it becomes immediately clear that this is a place where past, present, and future all meet through sparks, labor, and legacy.
A Self-Taught Blacksmith with a Scholar’s Soul
Darryl’s journey into blacksmithing did not begin with a mentor. It began with a library card.
“That education came out of the books. My kids were in school, I’d take them to the library. I had a particular type of latch or hook to make. I’d dig up old blacksmith books and start doing my work. I started educating myself the proper way of doing it. Nobody was doing it right.”
— Darryl Reeves
His shop, Andrew’s Welding & Blacksmith Shop, eventually caught the attention of preservationists across the state. The authenticity of Darryl’s hardware, all true to period form and fabrication, led to commissions on historic landmarks including the Presbytère gates, the Cabildo fence, and the main gate at Chalmette Cemetery, originally fabricated in 1872.
Each restoration project begins like an archaeological dig.
“When I take these things apart, people are talking to me. These people have been gone for 200 years or better.”
— Darryl Reeves
Every bolt removed and every hinge rebuilt is a lesson in craftsmanship. Reeves studies the marks left behind by artisans from centuries ago and can recognize the cultural influence in their work.
“No matter where you come from, everything looks the same when you look at it. But when you tear it apart, it’s a different story. Everybody has a different method of putting it together, it all depends on where you come from in the world.”
— Darryl Reeves
Keeping a Disappearing Art Form Alive
When I visited, the workshop pulsed with heat and history. Flames hissed as metal reached temperatures above 2,100 degrees, glowing orange beneath Darryl’s hammer. He worked beside apprentice Karina Roca, who had discovered his work through a PBS documentary. She arrived unannounced, inspired and determined to learn the craft.
“I always secretly wanted to be an ironworker. I lived in New York City for a long time and did urban farming. I wanted to deepen my intimacy with the built environment. What does that mean? To preserve ancestral ways of being and becoming.
So long story short, 2020 happens. I’m in Brooklyn, New York. I make a crazy decision to move to New Orleans a month before COVID.”
— Karina Roca
Her decision led to a creative collaboration with Darryl that culminated in one of their most high-profile commissions. Together, they designed a weather vane and lightning rod for Walt Disney World’s Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
“They wanted me to design this thing myself. They wanted my style. That’s a very huge honor.”
— Darryl Reeves
Symbols Forged in Spirit and Steel
The weather vane is more than a decorative feature. It is a storytelling piece that draws from the Adinkra visual language, which originated in West Africa.
“The top piece is a fern. It means endurance, strength, you do not give up. The symbol underneath that is Mother Earth. You take care of her and she will take care of you.
The bottom is my favorite. They call it Sankofa. It means family, ancestry, respect, and learning from those who came before.”
— Darryl Reeves
Karina saw the project as an opportunity to witness thoughtful curation in action.
“The meanings are just lovely. And just the level of intention Disney had with curating this space and really seeking out folks from New Orleans to bring that culture to the built environment was this really nice thing to see, and to be a part of.”
— Karina Roca
Every Fence Post Has a Story
Back in the workshop, the team was hard at work restoring antique fence posts. Each tip was being cast and shaped by hand, just as they had been centuries ago. For Darryl and Karina, these objects are more than metalwork. They are links in a long chain of makers and memory.
“Half of these pieces we take apart, we will never know the names of the folks who put them together.
But for what we are putting into the world, 150 or 200 years from now, when they take that apart and see that ‘Da,’ they are going to know exactly whose hands crafted it.
To be a part of that storytelling, this endless loop of intergenerational knowledge, is really a blessing.”
— Karina Roca
Why Darryl Reeves’ Work Matters Now
Darryl Reeves is not just preserving a skillset. He is preserving a way of thinking, a way of learning, and a way of honoring those who came before us. His blacksmithing is a form of cultural time travel. Through tools, gates, fences, and custom latches, he connects modern people with historical knowledge that might otherwise be lost.
In New Orleans, a city that constantly balances past and progress, his forge is a place of grounding. It reminds us that craftsmanship is memory you can hold in your hand.
“Everybody wants to be remembered. If I could be remembered for my trade, I like that. I take that as a big honor.”
— Darryl Reeves
That recognition will become official on Wednesday, October 9 at 2 p.m., when Dr. Mona Lisa Saloy, former Louisiana Poet Laureate, will honor Darryl Reeves as a 2024 Louisiana Tradition Bearer in a public ceremony at Dillard University.
As machine-made convenience becomes the norm, Darryl’s work invites us to slow down and remember the hands that built the world around us.
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