Having spent my whole working life as a designer, be it graphic, products or spaces, I 've always been driven to create stuff, imagine stuff, invent, pretend. Creating a vision for how something should look, work or connect has always been the gig. However, creating a vision for something is only ever half the story.
Knifemaking, and more specifically bladesmithing, presented an exciting opportunity to shift from imagining to making. A sweaty 40°C, sooty, dirty, with blisters and burns, has become my happy place. I aim to make as much as possible inhouse in my tiny workshop in the middle of Sydney's Inner west. An end-to-end/soul origin kinda thing. I'm fascinated by pattern welded steel as much as i'm inspired by the weirdo, surprising things that happen when combining disparate materials under the hammer. Making something that didn't exist before is a thrill.
Of course, I've always made stuff, but knife making somehow brings all my interests, skills and curiousities together in the form of a simple, ubiquitous tool, providing what only seems like a lifetime worth of pursuit and rabbit holeing. Let's go!
It was said to me early in my knifemaking journey, that "you've got make a hundred knives before you make a good one". It was said encouragingly and I'm now sure, having made 100 knives, with great wisdom. It's an idea that stuck with me, and after a few classes at Everleigh Works and a healthy dose of online misinformation, I was away. I decided to make 100 knives, each one adding a new skill or technique. Experientation and failure was build into the process, as was getting weird. There's an incomplete log of the first 100 knives below.
The next chapter in 100 knives is creating limited editions (of 100), handmade and released one by one.
The first edition is a design I've named the WAYO Chef. A little WA (trad Japanese) and little YO (western) - An all-purpose chef knife with a distinctive handle, blade profile and fit-up that features a bolster cap insert inspired by Japanese, hidden tang, dowel handle construction. Each WAYO chef will be of the same design, however be constructed with different materials and cutting geometry, making each WC unique.
The next model is set to launch soon, also limited to 100, so watch this space.
*Not an actual cave.
The WAYO CHEF is a Japanese-inspired chef knife design that blends minimalistic, traditional Japanese design elements with bold, modern design elements championed by modern Western style chef knives. Limited to 100 knives, each one will be handmade and one of a kind.
220mm integral with Micarta and some super lux Burmese Rosewood. Made some chevron dies to squeeze in the chevron pattern.
