A ten-day international festival which will see events held across Hereford is being launched today by mayor Paul Stevens.

Created in partnership with Hereford City Life, a brand of Hereford Business Improvement District, and Hereford College of Arts, the 10-day Ferrous Festival showcases blacksmithing.

In particular, it shows off cutting edge work and ideas, with international exhibitions hosted alongside popular attractions.

Hereford BID also says visitors are encouraged to explore the city centre and discover the world of forged metal.

Must-see festival highlights include:

{Queer} + {Metals}

This Queer + Metals exhibition is co-curated by Dauvit Alexander and Deirdre Figueiredo in collaboration with Rebekah Frank.

It features artists including jeweller John Moore, jeweller and drag artist Fei He, knife maker Gilbert Hadden and metalsmith Theo Somerville-Scott, amongst others.

It explores the multiplicity of queerness — whether as identity, lived experiences, thinking, cultures, aesthetic, influences, stories, place, and imagination — in relation to metalwork and metalsmithing.

Another highlight, Hereford BID says, is Planet of the Blacksmiths.

For the first time, Japanese photographer, Jun Ishikura’s photographs of blacksmiths in their forges around the world will been shown in the UK.

They travelled to many different places to create the incredible collection of work on show and it is fascinating to see the similarities and the differences in the way that the blacksmithing community work in the many different countries represented in Jun’s photographs.

There will also be live forging which has already captured the imagination of visitors, with tickets for the popular Have a Go Forging event selling out in advance.

Visitors will be able to watch as experienced Hereford Anvils blacksmiths guide novice makers through forging their own tree support at the Live Forging tent in High Town or visit the Old Market Shopping Centre to see demonstrations at The Nowhere Forge, a mobile blacksmithing workshop run by Simon Bushell.

Ferrous Festival will officially open on Friday morning at 8.30am with ribbon-cutting by the Mayor of Hereford Paul Stevens.

Live forging begins at 9:30 am, with exhibitions opening between 10.00am and 11.00am.

Learn more at www.ferrousfestival.co.uk