Holly is currently the only woman in Britain making hand-forged culinary knives professionally. Working entirely alone, she forges blades using carbon steels known for their durability and edge retention, and fits them with handles made from locally sourced native timbers.
After completing a City & Guilds qualification in Forgework, Holly spent three years working for Blenheim Forge making their Japanese influenced culinary knives. This experience gave her the opportunity to develop her own work out of hours and pushed her further to make the high-performance knives she crafts today. In 2020 Holly received the Newby Trust Craft Excellence Award and since then she been working full time from London’s Cockpit studios.
QEST funding will enable Holly to travel to the US and study knife-making in the American tradition with three master bladesmiths. She will expand her bladesmithing skills with mastersmith Timothy Potier at the New England School of Metalwork, study metallurgy with mastersmith Kevin Cashen, and develop new forging methods with mastersmith Bob Kramer, setting her on the path to becoming the UK’s first master bladesmith.
