RECLAIMING MATERIALS, DOGBOY KNIVES

RECLAIMING MATERIALS, DOGBOY KNIVES
A COVERSATION WITH RICHARD COOPER.

"I feel like we live in such a wasteful, consumer driven society, so I am trying to live a simpler life and waste less.

Turning waste into useful items rather than throwing them away, that’s important for the planet not just me."

I don’t know that there was a defining moment, it was just always there.

I’ve been recycling materials since I was at university, back then (late 80’s/ early 90’s) it was all I could afford, pallets and milk crates became furniture and I never really stopped after that.

I have always enjoyed making things and I have always been interested in the process of knife making, but every time I looked online I just saw hunting knives and knives that I wasn’t interested in.

Then a friend showed me this beautiful chef knife she had made with Barry Gardner, a knife maker in the Barossa Valley and the knife makers that she followed on Instagram and some of those people were using recycled materials.

Something just clicked and I went ok, I want to make myself a knife.

So, it started as an experiment 4 years ago to see if I could do it, and it grew from there.

I feel like we live in such a wasteful, consumer driven society, so I am trying to live a simpler life and waste less.

Turning waste into useful items rather than throwing them away, that’s important for the planet not just me.

If I can turn junk into beautiful and functional items people can use and cherish, I am helping others to do the same and that makes me happy.

I’ve had people bring me tools that were their grandfather's old files and rasps, bits of wood from the family farm - things that are otherwise just clutter in someone's shed - and turn it into something that will be cherished by generations to come.

Cherished by generations to come.

That’s how it should be.

It makes it really special, when you’re taking something that really means something to someone and turning into something they love and is useful.

My hope for the future...

In the grand scheme, I’d like to see people embrace small businesses and for local community to become important again:

buy local, reduce food miles, eat seasonally, pay more for ethical meat.

F**k big business and corporate monopolies that screw the little guys. I avoid Coles and Woolworths, I don’t go to them.

I go to Foodland or IGA instead, or a greengrocer or butcher over big business.

Go to local markets, it’s been a bit more difficult this year, but things like the Bowerbird Design Market. It’s a great place to meet local people and producers.

Just picking where you shop carefully makes such a difference.

Be prepared to pay a little more for something handmade.

Take a scarf, for example, you could go to Kmart and buy one or you can buy one that someone has handmade and you pay more for it but you’re getting something that is made locally and you’re helping support the local community.

It’s like that with food as well, you know, buying good quality ethical farm produce rather than mass produced s**t from the supermarket, I think that’s important.

It can take anything from 2.5 – 3 hours to make one of my cheese knives – I do them in batches so a batch takes about 4 days from start to finish but I might have a couple of batches on the go.

My chef’s knives are more like 10 -15 hours and the price reflects that.

My hope for the future, on a personal level.

I’d like to keep doing what I’m doing and make more knives. I’m always striving to make a better product and learning all the time.

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