4 weeks after the Eaton fireplace claimed his residence, bladesmith Nicholas Berkofsky was again at work in his East Los Angeles studio. His first challenge? A hand-forged pizza cutter to profit his neighborhood pizzeria, Pizza Venice, which was destroyed within the fireplace that swept via Altadena.
As he walked backwards and forwards between the propane-fueled forge and a tall hydraulic tire press, Berkofsky exuded calm regardless of the latest upheaval in his life.
“Being back in the studio helps give me a sense of normalcy,” Berkofsky stated as he hammered the red-hot Damascus metal on an anvil. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had lost my tools.”
On this collection, we spotlight unbiased makers and artists, from glassblowers to fiber artists, who’re creating authentic merchandise in Los Angeles.
Whereas Berkofsky finds consolation in resuming his on a regular basis routine, his customized knives are something however peculiar.
What makes them distinctive in an period of mass-produced items and quick access to big-name manufacturers you could find on-line?
“They have more soul,” Berkofsky stated of his patterned carbon-steel knives, which function elegant handles he has sculpted in uncommon wooden resembling charred Osage orange, black ash burl and dwell edge double-dyed maple.
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One take a look at the knives in his studio reveals that no two are the identical. “With forging, I can taper the thickness of the blade from very thick at the heel to super thin toward the tip, making for a very unique-feeling blade in the way it cuts and the balance between blade and handle,” Berkofsky stated.
Berkofsky, 30, was born in England and moved to Los Angeles when he was 10. Through the years he has lived in Hollywood, Silver Lake, Highland Park and finally Altadena, the place he, his spouse, Chelsea Munoz, and their 2-year-old son, Julian, have lived in a rental home for the final six years.
“I absolutely loved Altadena,” Berkofsky stated quietly. “Our landlord was talking about selling the home in the fall, and all we could think about was how much we wanted to stay there.”
Nicholas Berkofsky works on a limited-edition hand-forged pizza cutter in his East Los Angeles studio. He plans to raffle it off to profit his native pizzeria, misplaced to the Eaton fireplace.
As he watched the hearth creep over Eaton Canyon on Jan. 7, Berkofsky stated he was reminded of his first forge. “As soon as you take the air off the fire, the furnace explodes in flames,” he stated. “All of a sudden, that’s what happened on the mountain. I could tell the embers were getting hotter and hotter, and eventually, the mountain blew up in flames.”
Though residents of western Altadena didn’t obtain evacuation orders till 3:25 a.m., as reported by The Occasions, the couple packed up Julian, their three cats and their canine round midnight when their home started to fill with smoke.
“I grabbed the passports and jewelry, but there were so many things I should have grabbed,” he added, referring to every little thing they left behind, together with images by his father, Mike Berkofsky, who took a well-known picture of Jimi Hendrix.
From high: a Gyuto chef’s knife, a wooden carving knife and a utility knife made by Nicholas Berkofsky.
A charred pair of knives, created by Nicholas Berkofsky, that he recovered from his destroyed residence in Altadena. He hopes to repurpose them into new knives.
However like so many individuals who evacuated that evening, Berkofsky presumed they might return to seek out their residence and neighborhood nonetheless standing.
The next day he went again, however what he encountered crushed him. “Our house was on fire,” he stated. In an act of kindness he stated he wouldn’t neglect, one of many firefighters retrieved Julian’s toy fireplace truck within the yard. “It was really sweet of him,” the bladesmith stated. “He couldn’t save the house but he saved the fire truck. It was the only thing that wasn’t on fire.”
For Berkofsky, childhood possessions maintain deep which means. His grandfather nurtured his love for knives, typically giving them to him starting when he was 9 years outdated.
As a baby, Nicholas Berkofsky’s love for knives was greater than a passion — it was a ardour that might form his future.
(From Nicholas Berkofsky)
“I don’t know what I would have done if I lost my tools,” Berkofsky stated, referring to the lack of his residence within the Eaton fireplace.
His journey to turning into a bladesmith and crafting specialty knives, together with utility and carving knives, started along with his childhood fascination with fantasy and historic movies like “The Lord of the Rings.”
Later, as he grew older and loved tenting, wooden carving, rising greens and cooking, his curiosity expanded to kitchen knives, “especially as they are the most frequently used knives both by myself and the majority of the world,” he stated.
Whereas working as a panorama designer specializing in edibles and native vegetation, Berkofsky began carving picket spoons throughout his free time. “I was pretty young and didn’t have a lot of clients,” he defined, smiling.
Self-taught bladesmith Nicholas Berkofsky, who misplaced every little thing within the Eaton fireplace in Altadena, feels lucky to nonetheless have his studio.
Watching YouTube movies helped him progress shortly from wooden carving to knife making. “I set up a makeshift charcoal forge in the backyard and used my mother’s hairdryer as a forge blower,” he stated.
When he took an introductory class at Adam’s Forge, a blacksmithing college in Simi Valley, he realized he had already taught himself the fundamentals.
“I had many failures,” he admitted, “but slowly, I figured it out.”
In 2017, his mom, Cleobelle Pollock, inspired him to attend the Echo Park Craft Honest, the place she deliberate to promote Indian Kantha quilts and textiles. Though he felt sheepish about promoting his rehabbed classic knives among the many works of extra established artists, his mom inspired him to “give it a try.”
Nicholas Berkofsky makes use of a belt grinder to sharpen one among his hand-forged knives.
His knives offered out, and Fell Knives was born. (“Berkofsky Knives didn’t sound great,” he stated when requested about his branding, which references fallen bushes.)
Impressed by his success, Berkofsky began rehabbing classic knives after which moved into inventory elimination, during which a knife is developed by “cutting it, grinding it and putting a handle on it.” After three months he began forging, which he explains as “when you start with a rectangle of steel, put it in the forge, bring it up to 1,800 degrees and hammer it to shape instead of just cutting it into shape like stock removal.”
Immediately, most of his stock consists of customized orders and issues he enjoys making, resembling knives with mixed-media metallic and Japanese-style wooden aid handles. “I have built my business around kitchen knives [which can cost as much as $1,000 apiece], but I enjoy making showpiece knives like swords and daggers,” he stated. “A lot of bladesmiths will do long projects where they chip away at something magnificent, but I’m a struggling artist in L.A. and need to get my orders out.”
“The way Nick forges his metals is special,” stated Kevin Napoli, who bought two of Berkofsky’s kitchen knives and a pair of cremation lockets for him and his son to hold his father’s ashes. “I like that he does everything himself and does not buy premade Damascus. I’m a builder and like to support people who make things with their hands. Nick is not your average maker; he has an artist’s eye.”
Nicholas Berkofsky holds blocks of dyed wooden, hybrid wooden and resin with turquoise. “Creating the handles is definitely one of the funnest parts of making a knife,” he stated.
Though he feels fortunate to have discovered a studio house for his household in Echo Park, their hire has elevated. “When it’s good, it’s good,” he stated of working for himself, “but there are some stressful months.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he recalled how his kitchen knives took off whereas individuals have been sheltering at residence and cooking extra. “I sold 20 knives a week,” he stated wistfully, including that he’s “not great at working for other people.”
Just lately, Berkofsky began making jewellery utilizing recycled treasured metals that he hammers, fuses or casts from hand-carved wax molds.
A signet ring solid in sterling silver, left, and 14K gold rings by Nicholas Berkofsky of Fell Knives. (Nicholas Berkofsky )
Trying forward, he want to “spend half his time making kitchen knives and the other expanding my crafts, learning more skills and incorporating exotic and beautiful materials.”
He’s proud that each knife he forges, hammers, grinds and polishes — generally taking him greater than three days — “feels good in the hand.” The identical is true of his jewellery. “I try to make my pieces smooth and comfortable,” he stated, holding a signet ring solid in sterling silver that he etched with a Japanese crest of a lotus flower.
Capitalizing on all that he has realized, Berkofsky additionally teaches workshops on bladesmithing, together with an introductory class that could be a prerequisite for extra superior programs. On this class, he covers the fundamentals of forging a easy utility paring knife, together with heating the grip, grinding and ending the blade.
The finished pizza cutter, hand-forged by Nicholas Berkofsky.
(Nicholas Berkofsky)
As a baby, Berkofsky’s love for knives was greater than a passion — it was a ardour that might form his future. Now, as a full-time bladesmith, he shares not solely his appreciation for an age-old course of however the hope his work gives. A latest go to to his studio revealed that his knives are extra than simply instruments. The pizza cutter, as an example, is an emblem of goodwill that serves as a reminder that regardless of the collective loss to wind and wildfires, the Altadena neighborhood continues to be standing.
