This is Malvin Francesco Nathanael
My Storie
I’ve always been fascinated by the Middle Ages, by knives and swords. One day, as a joke, my father handed me a leftover piece of iron from a repair project and said, “You could make a knife out of this.”
I took it seriously.
I started watching YouTube tutorials on how to make knives with the simplest tools. Soon, I made my very first knife – a rough one. It wasn’t hardened, it wasn’t really sharp, and the handle fell off quickly. But I didn’t stop. I kept watching videos, learning from blacksmiths and bladesmiths, diving deeper into the world of forging.
At some point, I realized that our house in Germany, by pure coincidence – or maybe fate – still had an old coal forge, an anvil, and some coal left behind by the previous owner. I simply started.
In the beginning, I failed constantly. I overheated steel, broke blades by quenching them in water, and made plenty of mistakes. But through learning by doing, I slowly improved. I kept studying through YouTube, books, and countless hours in the workshop.
Through my homeschooling years, I was able to spend two full years intensively studying metallurgy, focusing specifically on bladesmithing and heat treatment.
Between 2017 and 2023, I gradually built up a proper workshop, piece by piece, machine by machine. In 2024, I officially registered my business and decided to fully dedicate myself to this passion.
Today, I live in the rolling hills of Umbria, Italy – surrounded by nature, forging knives every day.
My Work
I specialize in unique, high-quality knives with a strong focus on aesthetic harmony and functional performance. My style could be described as elegant rusticity – every knife is one of a kind, completely handmade by me. I don’t work with fixed patterns or rigid plans. I simply listen to the steel and the wood, follow my sense of form, and let the materials guide me.
I’m especially drawn to copper damascus. It’s an extremely rare and complex forging technique, and I love both its visual beauty and the technical challenge behind it. I aim to master this craft and become one of the few bladesmiths in the world who truly specialize in it.
Many of my knives are forged from recycled materials – not just for sustainability, but because these materials carry stories. Still, quality always comes first. I often use premium steels to guarantee the highest possible performance.
Why Knives?
Knives and swords shaped human civilization. Without them, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist. For tens of thousands of years – since the Stone Age – people have used blades for hunting, cooking, building, surviving. They’ve always been tools of life, not just weapons.
This is what fascinates me: forging is a process where you take something as hard and cold as steel and, with heat and skill, shape it into something alive. It feels like magic – turning raw material into a lifelong companion.
My Vision
My Vision
My goal is to make knives that stay with people for life – tools that might even be passed down to the next generation.
In the long run, I want to become a certified master bladesmith in the Italian CIC (Corporazione Italiana Coltellinai).
For me, this journey is about honesty, freedom, authenticity, quality, peace, and the joy of following my own path.