Art from the Heart
Everything about Kashief Booley, the Blacksmith of Prince Albert in the Western Cape Karoo, says Old School. And watching him work in the Striking Metal smithy on a rise overlooking the village, with the majestic Swartberg range sweeping across the Prince Albert Valley and westwards all along the Klein Karoo, is to segue back a few centuries.
There’s a flaming forge, rows of handmade tools, hulking anvil, hissing water bucket and the all-important hammer. But then there are signs of the times – T-shirt and blue-denim jeans with the Bruce Springsteen cut, gas burners and angle grinders.
When I was a kid, it was, of course, all about being a cowboy one day when I grew up. Maybe a fireman. Now I’m a ballie, and all I really want to be is the village blacksmith. This guy. In this place.
The relatively well-heeled citizenry of Prince Albert and distant Cape Town fancy their custom-made goods, so there’s always a commission available for
