Meet a Maker: Edition 32

Meet Ben Long

1. What is your craft and how did you get into it?

The craft is the making of falconry equipment, properly termed ‘furniture’. I became interested in the sport in the late 1960s, when there was almost no equipment to buy, because many falconers made their own furniture. In preparation for taking on my first hawk I made gloves and hoods, and various items I would need. I was lucky to live in an area in Oxfordshire where glove making was traditional, so I was able to pick up some tips. I was totally learning from scratch with huge amounts of trial and error.

2. What is one interesting fact about you?

I’m probably the only person ever to genuinely make an entire living from the craft of making falconry furniture, and the first person to make a complete range of furniture that didn’t look homemade. I don’t think nowadays it’s possible to make a living from falconry furniture, due to imports from Pakistan.

3. How long have you been making?

Since the late 1960s. I have flown hawks and falcons since 1971 when I obtained my first kestrel, and I have been able to learn the craft alongside my skills as a practising falconer.

4. Who are your favourite makers? 

There are a couple whose hoods I particularly admire. In the UK it’s Matt Aggett, who used to work for me and now has branched out to produce his own stamp of hoods. Also Jaime de Juan, a European hoodmaker whose creations are just works of art. Maybe not commercially viable, but nevertheless art in a useable form.

5. What is the most challenging skill/technique you learned in your craft?

Without a doubt the multiple skills used in making a hood. Awling holes out from the edge of leather of only 1.5mm, stitching using two needles and Dacron thread for strength, blocking, shaping and finishing. At the end, to cut and shape the opening where the beak protrudes, so that it fits snugly but comfortably on the face.

6. What is your favourite part of your craft? 

It’s probably to produce something unique, which is a totally functional object, yet at the same time a small piece of art.

7. What project are you most proud of and why?

I am quite proud to have been commissioned to make a falconry glove for Prince Charles as Prince of Wales way back in the mid 70s, and again for him as king a few months ago. Overall though, I think I am proud to have been able to make furniture, particularly hoods and gloves that I designed and made entirely from snippets of information from research, and hours of trial and error that 40 years ago looked and functioned as well as the ones I make today. There is so much information to be found online and in books now, but that wasn’t the case half a century ago.

8. If someone who knows nothing about you or your practice could know one thing, what would it be?

We fly hawks and falcons for our pleasure. They are essentially wild, in spite of being entirely domestically-bred nowadays. Items of furniture should essentially be fit for purpose and comfortable to the hawk. It doesn’t matter how good it looks, the primary goal is fit and function. If we can make it look good as well, that’s the bonus.