Emmanuel Esposito: Born in Torino Italy in 1985, knife making sensation Emmanuel Esposito is one of the fastest rising stars in the world of High-end Custom Knives. Making knives since 2002, Emmanuel studied mechanics at school and worked in the family machine shop where he developed a love of precision machining and intricate mechanisms.

Emmanuel prefers natural materials such as Black and White Pearl as well as Antique Tortoise, and names Charly Bennica, Jurgen Steinau and Richard Hodgson as makers he admires. He also favors aggressive modern designs and is back-ordered one year on deliveries at the moment.

He is a member of the Italian Knife Makers Guild (“Corporazione Italiana Coltellinai”) and generally attends only two shows each year – the CIC in Milan and the East Coast Custom Knife Show in New York. He counts among his Knife Making friends Charly Bennica, Antonio Fogarizzu, Salvatore Puddu and Francesco Pachi – sort of a “who’s who” of important European knife makers.

Emmanuel makes both folders and integral fixed blades, and specializes in knives that may be taken apart and that have complex mechanisms. The folders in particular feature a unique and patented ball-bearing pivot system that provides unparalleled strength regardless of blade position. He also makes all of the special screws used in his knives. This artist is one of our very talented custom knife dealers.

Always working on new designs, Emmanuel has recently completed a high-end folder in collaboration with Charly Bennica. The proto-type of this magnificent knife appears with a gold lip inlay in Emmanuel’s new Maker’s Gallery on this web site – and is the first limited edition to bear the Bennica-Esposito logo.

Ever wish you purchased a Ron Lake on the ground floor before he became a legend? I know I do – so don’t let this opportunity to discover the next folding knife making legend before the rest of the world finds out too!  Emmanuel currently lives in Buttigliera Alta near Torino Italy.

Comments on Emmanuel Esposito from Charly Bennica:

“Emmanuel is above all passionatley interested in mechanics and machines. Making knives has become his raison d’être. He was initiated to all things mechanical at an early age by his grandfather whom he adored and who taught him the trade. Determined and creative he went from fixed-blade knives to folding ones with the same success.

He is the first knife-maker to create a folding-knife which works with a ball-bearing. His work is irreproachable and I think he is going to be a great knife-maker, his work a must for every serious collector. I get along very well with Emmanuel because we have the same priorities: perfection and research (working materials and research) in order to advance the art of knife-making.”

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