Smith Designs: 3 new designs + new website section.

Kailash Blades

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Nov 21, 2015
Messages
798
Empowering our smiths is a constant goal at Kailash.
We’ve done it through pay structures, education and training and now we’re also hoping to provide a platform for our team to develop, bring to market and make knives of their own design. This has been a long time in the works and we’re hoping that it helps to foster an understanding of the the imaginative and theory side of the knifemaking process while rebuilding a relationship between maker and knife that has been largely absent from the more modern side of the industry. As a result, a blade in this section of the website will exclusively be made by the smith that designed it.
Going further than just the making, we hope to build a more holistic set of skills including basic market analysis, branding and pricing so that our team members can participate in more areas of the business and be equipped to flourish with any work they pursue outside of Kailash. As a result these blades have been named by the smiths and they’ve chosen their own maker’s rate as well as their commission as designer on top of that- hoping to strike that golden balance of a price that’s nicely profitable while still being competitive.
With more fulfilled and skilled workers we can expect to produce better knives at work and bring positive change back home to our family members and community.

ARRINGAL: By Bikram BishwaKarma
19.5" of beefed up Hanshee that's been given a modern twist in the fullering and handle work. Named after the Asian Giant Hornet.

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RAKCHAS: By Mahesh BishwaKarma
An extremely broad and beefy 16" blade that's a canvas for Mahesh to show off his fullering and sheet metal skills on. Named after a Nepali Demon.

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GIDDHA: By Mandaip Rasaili.
20" of high performing chopping blade. Powerful, rugged and yet balanced with a grind that bites very deeply. Named after the Vulture.


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If you've got any questions about the way the section works or the designs in particular let me know! Exciting to get some of these projects finished- time to move on to the next one!
Link to the website section HERE:
 
Very cool initiative. I like the Arringal fullering, what a beast. The Giddha is quite a looker as well.

Spotted some minor typos; Rachkas page has copy paste saying it's named after the Hornet like Arringal. Also uses "belies" instead of "bellies"
 
All three look fantastic!
Cheers! The guus are so excited for their first orders.

Very cool initiative. I like the Arringal fullering, what a beast. The Giddha is quite a looker as well.

Spotted some minor typos; Rachkas page has copy paste saying it's named after the Hornet like Arringal. Also uses "belies" instead of "bellies"
Thanks for the heads up- I'll get that fixed up now. The Giddha ia my favourite- the best feeling in hand I feel
 
Yep! they're all on the product pages at the top- bit if a different format for the descriptions
 
Yeah they're listed in the new store pages. 1025g Giddha, , 918g Arfringal, 1091g Rakchas.

It is interesting each smith chose a large blade at roughly 1kg.
I was also a bit surprised by this. I think it's because we don't have many pre existing blades at that size in our lineup- it's also a good canvas to show off their skills.
 
SMITH DESIGNS PRICE DROP
Aside from just coming up with the designs, the smiths also have control over the pricing of their blades. Aside from giving them more agency over their work it's also intended to help provide an understanding of how to strike a balance between earning profit and being competitively priced.
With this in mind the smiths are lowering their prices and hope it'll push up demand for these new and interesting items! All 3 are now 40 to 60 USD cheaper so check them out if you haven't already or were keen but holding off :)
 
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