I lead a walk called the Flint Stones. Cartoon fans will be disappointed to learn that Fred, Wilma, Barney and Betty don’t put in an appearance, instead the star of the ‘show’ is the rock flint. Here in the Western Weald it is impossible to go for a walk without stumbling over it, seeing flint houses and boundary walls, and being forgiven for thinking it is the crop growing in the fields. However, while it is as much a part of the South Downs’ landscape as chalk, it barely receives mention in our local story. My short walk is therefore an attempt to open people’s eyes to its historical significance, variety and creative potential.
Someone who knows all about flint’s creative potential is David Smith, the owner of the Flintman Company near Lewes. He is as much artist as artisan with his work exploding popular conceptions of how this rock can be used. He came to my attention through the image below – a chandelier he made from paper-thin flint galettes.
Flint Chandelier – Image copyright David Smith
Over coffee recently we chatted about David’s love of flint and the journey on which it has taken him. Like many flint men, David initially built up a successful business knapping flint, restoring old buildings and constructing new ones. However, now that he no longer has children at home, he has the headspace to be creative with flint, and is enjoying pushing its boundaries, exploring ways to excite designers and architects.
Innovative Techniques
The centre of Lewes is a great place to spot some of David’s work. At The Depot, the town’s vibrant arts centre, you will find a decorative flint roof and perhaps the only knapped, squared flint ceiling in the world. Being a fairly heavy material, flint is not a builder’s natural material of choice for ceilings. However, using a technique he’d employed working with obsidian in Japan (where the risk of earthquakes makes weight a serious consideration), David was able to significantly reduce the thickness of the ceiling flints whilst retaining their structural integrity and the beauty of their knapped flint face.
Flint work at The Depot, Lewes
Flint Renaissance
If you have joined a Flint Stones walk, you will know that we talk about a renaissance in flint building over the past decade. This was largely triggered by the Rothschild’s Flint House project, which won the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) 2015 House of the Year award. David was the flint consultant and flint contractor on this sculptural new build, which married flint, glass and steel to create a look that was both contemporary and traditional. The top, white section of the Flint House is actually chalk, a rock formed at the same time as flint, but with very different properties, and in David’s opinion, vastly underrated as a building material. However, convincing architects to use chalk, which is generally known for its porosity, was a hard sell. And how did David win this argument? He served the skeptics tea in a service made from chalk…..which didn’t leak!
The Flint House – Image copyright David Smith
The themes of challenging mindsets and being led by his own curiosity are very much at the forefront of David’s current project – glass making. This is actually nothing new, as back in the 1600s flint nodules were used as a source of silica in glass production. However, David would like his glass to connect with its original landscape by including a chalky, white cortex which is found around quarried flint. The prototypes are already a thing of beauty, so the final products are sure to be breathtaking.
Flint glass – Image copyright David Smith
The Artisan
As David lifted his coffee mug I couldn’t help but notice his white hands. He’d been using lime that morning, which is used to make the mortar found in flint walls, and a reminder of his flint artisan roots. He talks passionately and intimately about flint, saying it has a sense of humour and likening the process of knapping it to a conversation. With each tap of the rock he says the flint asks a question that attempts to get the measure of its adversary, breaking if it doesn’t believe in you. No two flints are the same, which makes the knapping process an incredible challenge and ensures every wall has its own unique look.
David Smith – Flintman Company
In my publicity for the Flint Stones walk, I write that joining it will result in you never looking at a flint wall the same way again. This is because we take the time to observe the different types of flint and laying styles in walls along the route. However, join David on one of his annual flint heritage walks around Lewes, and your mind will be blown by how much more he can read into a simple flint wall….if indeed any flint wall can be described as ‘simple’. Using his expert eye he can tell whether a wall was built in summer or winter and whether it was laid by a flintman or bricklayer laying flint. With such a finely tuned eye, it is little wonder he was asked to write “Building with Flint – A practical guide to the use of flint in design and architecture”, the recently published seminal guide to this traditional craft, and advising English Heritage on a standard for flintwork nationally.
Increasing Awareness
Unfortunately, despite the recent renaissance in flint’s use, the art of knapping and laying it remains a red-listed, endangered trade. For this reason, it is more important than ever to create a conversation about flint. Greater awareness leads to ownership, pride and protection. As David’s work surely demonstrates, flint is an incredibly beautiful and versatile material, that deserves to be celebrated, not walked past unnoticed. So, the next time you go for a walk around the South Downs, do take a moment to appreciate the different uses of flint along your path, or perhaps join me for the Flint Stones to put my ‘you’ll never look at a flint wall the same way again’ challenge to the test!
To learn more about David visit his website and Instagram page
