Artisan Partners' Collection
In October 2000, Michael Parrish and Daniel Jenkins, Northern California goldsmiths who have been business partners for years, founded Michael Daniels Collection. They had long admired the mix of precious metals known as Mokume Gane, and sought ways to create this beautiful, dramatic–and difficult–material. And when they realized they could develop the tools and skills to make it, they gave up their successful ten-year custom-jewelry business, and started a new company, just for Mokume.
Mokume Gane: A Mystery from the Past Becomes an Art of Today
Mokume gane (moh’-coo-may gah’-neh) is the art of fusing layers of precious metals to form a single piece with unique markings (Mokume in Japanese means wood-grain; gane means metal). It was first developed in feudal Japan by a Seventeenth Century mastersmith, Denbei Shoami, who used Mokume in decorative elements for Japanese swords. These fabulous pattern-welded steel blades constituted one of the highest art forms in Japan at that time, and with Mokume furnishings, they sold for a king’s ransom in Europe. The Japanese closely guarded the secret art of fusing precious metals over generations of masters and apprentices.
In the 1970s, a few modern artisans studied with mastersmiths in Japan, and brought the art to the West. But creating Mokume has always been difficult. Even now, most billets, or working blocks, are formed by hand, and aside from some art pieces, nearly all the products on the market are wedding bands–a simple celebration of the material itself and the fine art of creating it.
View the Michael Daniels Collection >
My inspiration comes from nature. As a child, I used to toss a pebble into the pond and I watched the ripples of water gently and pleasingly hypnotize me for hours. They had helped me to understand and revealed the secret of composition, rhythm of form, mystic harmony and the natural beauty in the universe. I believe natural beauty does not just base on culture, intellect or the condition of life alone. Universal beauty does exist if you search for it, you will find it in your smiles. - Chi Galatea Huynh
Design: Rhythm of line, shapes, forms, and textures colorsand the mystic harmony of their relationship. Art is like music; a musician understands key, melody, rhythm, and composition and so on, to create music rather then noises. After years of working on the theory of natural beauty, I come to understand line, light, shape, color, texture, harmony and the mystic harmony of their relationships to create music for the eyes."
Craftsmanship: Each design are hand sketched, sculpted, detailed and finished to the highest standard of an old world Artisan, combined with new inventive techniques developed at GALATEA.
Metal: We formulated our metal to ensure its purity. All jewelry designs are available in yellow gold or white gold 14kt, 18kt and platinum."
View the Galatea Jewelry Collection >
William Henry Studio is dedicated to producing knives, pens and other fine accessories that rank among the finest in the world. Each William Henry knife is an exceptional handcrafted rendition of function, form, and value. Each knife is adjusted, assembled and finished by hand to exacting quality standards.
The seamless integration of classic natural materials and state-of-the-art alloys is a hallmark of William Henry's work — no compromises, no shortcuts, exceptional quality. Each component is precision machined to tolerances reserved for aerospace level work — often measured at 0.0005", or one twelfth the size of a human hair. The final fit, finish, action, and sharpness of each knife are achieved entirely by hand, employing the irreplaceable craftsmanship developed by generations of master cutlers.
Every pocket knife we make is a distinctive heirloom-quality testament to the art of knifemaking. Each piece takes more than seven months to produce, and incorporates the work of more than 30 artisans across 800 individual operations.
William Henry creates a range of tools so perfectly conceived and executed that they transcend superlative function to become superlative art. Our cutting instruments offer unmatched performance as daily carry tools and are found among the finest collections in the world.