Born in Denmark in 1957 and being a child of the sixties as well as someone who was young in the seventies, the opportunities for personal expression seemed endless, and from the very start I lived a life doing all the things I was passionate about.

I began traveling around making a living by performing music. I also created a circus complete with tent, and later became a teacher who brought music to schools for young people. All the while I performed, played and lived a life in contact with thousands of people.

But from the beginning I had one silent passion, a way to balance all the outwardly directed living, a kind of meditation, where I sought to catch the beauty of the moment through Knife making. Now living in a little farm on ten acres of nature in a small river valley, I have all the space and peace I need for this passion.

To me the knife is a form of expression, and since I began in 1979, I have attached great importance to form, design and personal expression through the knife. And over the years, I have worked hard to find the simplicity and essence in the knife. This means sometimes I work with just the two elements, black and glossy, or one blade, one piece of wood and a piece of leather.

A knife made by Michael West is instantly recognizable. Over several decades he has continued the development of his very own design idiom founded on Scandinavian knife making traditions. His take is a contemporary one, but with a classic almost graphic dimension. He aims to form a whole, where lines, shapes and materials create a natural balance and tension. This artist is one of our very talented custom knife dealers.

Michael’s aesthetic ambitions as a craftsman are clear when studying his knives with their signature design of smooth and curved lines, the use of fine and precious materials as well as their fine technical detailing. Every knife is unique with development beginning on the sketching board, where ideas are examined and evaluated before coming to life in the workshop at his home.

In recent years interest in knife making as a craft has been thriving across Europe and Michael West is an active participant in various groups and international shows. Over the years he has won countless prizes in competitions, and in 2014 alone he won first category prizes at shows in Helsinki, Solingen and Paris along with much international recognition as a craftsman as well.

We think Michaels work is special and unique………we hope you do too.

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