Antoine Van Loocke

Knifeforging Comm. V.

Knife maker

©Frédéric Raevens

©Antoine Van Loocke

©Richard Haughton

From junk to gem

Antoine crafts custom-made knives for chefs and private clients
Nature inspires his ideas and supplies the raw materials for his work
He transforms discarded materials such as rotten wood and rusty steel

Antoine Van Loocke is a self-taught artisan who creates knives from waste. “In childhood, seeing my mother peeling potatoes, I learnt that this small kitchen knife was an important tool in our daily life.” He started making knives using a piece of train track as an anvil, a small hammer he found in a scrap container and his kitchen stove as a forge. “I just kept tinkering until I knew how to do it.” In the last 20 years he has sought out hundreds of old knives, which he cleans, forges, and polishes. He makes the handles out of natural waste materials, resulting in new and original knives with a unique design and character.

Interview

©Antoine Van Loocke

©Jan Cornelis

How would you describe your knives?: The knives coming out of my workplace embody sophistication, self-conscious austerity and uncomplicated design. There is no artificial fuss, only a challenging craftsman’s inspiration moulded into an artistic design.
How would you define your craft?: My work can be associated with two concepts from the Ancient Greek: ‘technè’, the art of making, executing, producing; and ‘poièsis’, from the hidden to the manifest, from the shadow to the light. Each and every one of my knives incarnates this ancient concept.
What goes into this process of transformation?: I transform natural but worthless discarded materials into high-tech products that still look natural because of their irregular structure and flaws. It is precisely these imperfections that provide added value. They are signatures from the past, what I call "accidental uniques".
What do you love most about your profession?: The recycling and reprocessing of old metals combined with natural materials and craftsmanship – creating a perfect marriage between handle and blade – reminds me of the kitchen knife of my youth, with its eroded handle. Forging these ideas constitutes the base of my passion.

Antoine Van Loocke is a master artisan: he began his career in 1998 and he started teaching in 2004