I had a conversation the other day about my NEXUS dagger and where I found inspiration for this piece. Normally my way of looking at and for inspiration is very abstract in the way I rarely seek inspiration directly. I have always considered inspiration to be more a state of mind rather than something that I seek out specifically. I get inspired by being in large cities like New York or San Francisco. I find architecture and human interaction with the city they live in to be a big source of inspiration. I find inspiration in looking at other craftsmen outside of the knife world and have tons of books on everything from Japanese carpentry over contemporary jewelry making to concept arts for movies. 
Speaking of movies and big cities.… I have always been a sucker for sci-fi movies and my favorite movies has got to be the original Blade Runner movie from 1982. The whole dark and gritty atmosphere set in futuristic Los Angeles (well the original was set in November 2019! yet still...) , the buildings, the various weapons has been an almost lifelong inspiration to me. As rare as it happens the sequel - Blade Runner 2049 - was to me equally good. If you are a fan of sci-fi movies you may know of a concept artist name Syd Mead. He has been heavily involved in designing the sets and props for both Blade Runner movies as well as several other of my favorite movies in this genre: Aliens, Mission to Mars and Elysium. (I highly recommend the book The Movie Art of Syd Mead)
Long story somewhat shorter…watching Blade Runner 2049 I was so drawn into the movie universe again. I was reminded by my ongoing fascination of Deckards blaster which could fill a full blog post on its own.
When I saw a few frames worth of a folding dagger used I had to make my take on a Blade Runner worthy blade.
I wanted to make something that reflected the mixed style of interior designs, architecture and object as seen in both movies. Something that would equally well be seen as an old world weapon as well as a moden styled object. Something that will age well with a timeless feel to. Something with enough style to fit well in a Replicants or Blade Runners arsenal.
With anything inspired it needs to be able to stand alone. It was an incredible difficult project for me to make a balanced and interesting design while adding ergonomics and “useability” to the design. Adding a detail level that would be worthy of such a pice was way outside my comfort zone. As with all my knives it is the process that interests me the most. On this piece the process has been a great adventure into another world.
