The blades of history
- Vykintas' attraction to the ancestral way of life led him to knife making
- He aims to revive the Baltic tradition of knife making
- He is a graduate geologist, turned knife-maker
The son of a geology professor and a graduate geologist himself, Vykintas Motuza never thought he would delve into knife making. During the Soviet era, knives were highly criminalised, but the opening of the borders in 1990 changed everything. With the opportunity to travel abroad and see the knives of other Nordic countries, Vykintas became interested in the Lithuanian knife tradition. He immersed himself in this research, and has stayed with it ever since. His goal is to make a traditional Lithuanian knife, the tradition of which was disrupted during successive occupations. Since 2002, Vykintas has been making ancient Lithuanian and Baltic Sea knives from different historical periods, using ancient materials and technologies. He crafts knives historically used for battle as well as for everyday use.
Interview
- How did you become interested in this craft?
- I was led to the craft by a natural curiosity for knives which had been strictly controlled during the Soviet era while I was growing up. When the borders opened, it was very interesting to see what traditional knives from neighbouring Northern countries were like, to compare what we had and what we had lost in 300 years of occupation and repression.
- How would you describe what you do?
- I make traditional knives from the Baltic Sea region – sometimes as replicas from archaeological find for museums and exhibitions, and sometimes as my own interpretation of the local tradition. They are not reconstructions per se. My aim is to refine and continue our knife making tradition.
- Do you use historical sources to understand ancient knife-making?
- In Western Europe, some knife makers still work in the traditional way, and there are countries where the tradition did not break down. I draw on their experience, but also on ethnographic, archaeological, and excavation data.
- Do you see yourself as a promoter of a vanishing craft?
- The craft is not extinct, there are many knife makers. But I make knives the way ancient knife makers did, with wood, ancient steel, embellishments such as leather, brass, copper, my own glue, and I use traditional tools and techniques.
Vykintas Motuza is a master artisan: he began his career in 2002 and he started teaching in 2012
Where
Vykintas Motuza
