Meet William Henry, one of the most idiosyncratic knife brands in the world. A brand where you choose your pocket knife not with your mind, but purely by feelWhat started on the US west coast in 1997 as the dream of then-27-year-old Matt Conable, to have his own knife brand, has since grown into a broad-based brand in men's accessories, where in addition to -mostly award-winning- knives, you will also find pens, jewellery, money clips, cufflinks, key rings and pitchforks, personalised or not. The lover of sleek and minimalist will come up short at William Henry. Although there are a few modest models in the collection, it mainly distinguishes itself by a wonderful integration of old, often very old natural materials, precious metals, gemstones and ultra-modern alloys. Most of the knives have an artisanal look, with pure craftsmanship oozing from them. Moreover, the material used is often so special that many knives are made in limited editions, or are even unique.
DAMASCUS STEEL
So is the knife on these pages. Named Monarch Last Call. Only fifty copies are made of this elegant pocket knife with a sterling silver frame, carved by Lee Downey on the island of Bali and featuring a striking detail in the form of a skull in 9 carat yellow gold. Skulls, or skulls, are anyway a design element that we regularly come across at William Henry. Matt Conable: "Skulls are universal language. They bind us together as one human race. And skulls as a subject in art can be found in almost all cultures around the world. Above, it's just cool."
The blade of the Monarch Last Call is made of beautifully crafted 'intrepid' Damascus steel, hand-forged by master blacksmith Chad Nichols in the US. The cool inlay on the handle is made of turquoise, 'infused' with a matrix of zinc. This turquoise comes from the famous Indian mine in Kingman, Arizona, where these special blue stones have been mined since the year 600 AD. The button lock and thumb stud are set with white topaz gemstones.
HANDWORK
Brand founder Matt Conable is still involved in every design. Indeed, almost all designs are his own, with the exception of the jewellery, where another in-house designer is also involved. And although Conable is no longer involved full-time in the artisanal manufacturing process, he still works with his staff to optimise finishing techniques and solve problems.
10,000 YEARS OLD
Among the natural materials William Henry works with are bones and teeth of mammoths, dinosaurs and fossil coral. Sometimes as much as 100 million years old. But Conable's bucket list hasn't quite been ticked off yet. "There are several, but two materials in particular are high on my wish list to make something beautiful with," he says. Like fossil whale teeth. We have some beautiful specimens, probably from a sperm whale and at least 10,000 years old. Big enough to do something with, but still relatively small. We are therefore still looking for more specimens of similar quality. And it is not yet entirely clear what the legal status of this material is for commercial use on a state-by-state basis, so we still have to find that out as well.
WHITE HAIR
Another material is fossil shark teeth. Both ancient Mako shark teeth and teeth of the Megalodon (a species of shark extinct about 2 million years ago, up to 18 metres long and related to the White Shark; GB). Some of these fossils are breathtakingly beautiful, drenched in colour from millions of years underwater, with exquisite detail and still almost in their original form. I soon want to incorporate them into jewellery without altering them. Creating a design around the fossil, rather than forcing the fossil into a design..."
The Monarch Last Call costs USD 2150. More information: www.williamhenry.com
English 
Dutch 
German