While teaching classes, installing exhibits, and executing restoration and commissioned projects in the museum’s demonstration workshop, Japheth came in to contact with metalworkers worldwide. Such exposure gave him the opportunity to spend a year in the workshop of Richard Quinnell Ltd. in Surrey, England. Here was an unparalleled opportunity to work with very fine craftsmen entrusted with the restoration of important historic pieces and the building of the very best contemporary work. Upon his return to the United States, Japheth has devoted his full energy to his own work. In the process, he has gained a reputation for high quality work and fine craftsmanship. 

In addition to designing and making architectural metalwork, he and his wife, metal smith Alice A. James have been invited to teach several blacksmithing classes each year. These classes at various craft schools through out the U.S. reflect a growing public interest in ironwork, as well as the emergence of a new generation of artist blacksmiths. Teaching others is particularly rewarding to Japheth as a way of ensuring that this once dying craft continues to expand and develop.