Hasan & Aslan Göktepe

Kunstgiesserei München

Bronzesmith

©Lara Freiburger

Casting with the times

Hasan and Aslan are father and son bronzesmiths
Respect and trust are driving forces for their work at the foundry
Technology opens up new opportunities in their work processes

For more than 30 years, Hasan Göktepe worked in a workshop that is over 100 years old, until he decided to take it over in 2007. His son Aslan, to whom he passed on the skills and knowledge he acquired through working with master craftsmen, now works with him and runs the business. Casting metals is a physically demanding craft which requires a great deal of trust. The larger the objects, the heavier the parts that the father and son duo have to move together. The two men hold up to 200 kilograms in their hands while manually pouring hot, liquid metal into the moulds. “You cannot let routine creep in but must concentrate on the casting, again and again,” Aslan says. “A blind understanding is necessary. As father and son working together, we have a good basis.”

Interview

©Lara Freiburger

©Lara Freiburger

What do you love most about your work?: It is the aura of constant novelty. On the one hand, we interact with a great number of artists. On the other hand, there is great variety in objects that pass through our hands. We may repeat processes over and over again, but the result is always different.
Have new technologies altered the way you work?: We just finished a unique 5.15 m aluminium sculpture, a very complicated piece with many breakthroughs for which we did not use the traditional lost-wax casting process. Instead, we worked with large 3D printed parts that we directly connected with our anvils and we melted the parts out of the mould.
What is an essential component of your work?: I would say it is giving adequate time. When an artist works on an object for four, five, or six months, we must set aside a reasonable amount of time for its production. We have to convey the perfection and passion the artist adopted. Otherwise, there is no point.
What is the atmosphere in your workshop?: It is like an ancient place of worship. The craft has been practised here for 120 years. One can feel that many great things have been cast here. Although you cannot smell the metals, the smell of wax is always in the air as we always keep it liquid in a cauldron.

Hasan & Aslan Göktepe are master artisans: they began their career in 2007 and they started teaching in 2007