José Adário dos Santos was born in the neighborhood of Caixa d’Água, Salvador, Bahia. At the age of 11, he began his work as a blacksmith of Afro-Brazilian religious artifacts [ferreiro de santo], learning from his master and mentor Maximiano Prates. Since then, he has manufactured gates and ritual implements: percussion instruments such as “agogôs” and iron sculptures that operate a kind of mediation between men and the gods of the religion known in Brazil as “Candomblé”- Although it was born in Bahia in the 19th century, Candomblé was formed from the African religious traditions of the Yoruba peoples. These traditions were brought to Brazil by enslaved black populations from West African countries such as Nigeria, Benin and Togo.