Amayak Stepanyan, USA
Carving Artist & Custom Knifemaker
At the age of seventeen while living in Sochi, Russia, I was given the opportunity to become a watchmaker’s apprentice. I learned to repair clocks and watches, but more importantly, I learned precision handwork on a small scale which I enjoyed very much. I continued in this profession for eleven years, until one day, while watching a fellow watchmaker using a flex shaft to engrave, I decided that I could do a better job by hand. I found a book by Erhard Brepohl, which explained the basics of hand engraving. Thenceforth I taught myself how to make and use hand gravers to carve metal.
Two years later I left watchmaking and became a professional engraver. Employed by the Russian Souvenir Company in Moscow, a company that was well known for commemorative medals, pins, and enameled wall plaques of famous Russian sites. I engraved intricate master steel dies that were used for multiple production. A few years later I attained the status of Master Engraver.
In 1996, Russian friends near Boulder, Colorado (USA) invited me to visit the United States. I brought samples of my work to demonstrate my skills, which led me to master metalsmith Lew Wackler, through whom I made important professional contacts. I was given several letters of support for immigration by number of artists and institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was granted a Green Card in 1999, while living in Moscow. I then left Russia in 2000 and settled in Arvada, Colorado with my wife, Svetlana. In 2008 we became citizens of the United States of America.
Coming to the United States has provided me an opportunity for creativity and artistic freedom that I had not previously known. I was privileged to work with Lew Wackler, Bill Brinker and Baron Andreas von Zadora, engraving objects of extraordinary scale and beauty. In 2002 Lew introduced me to Dick Hodgson, a well-known professional knife maker (now deceased). Through Dick I was drawn to the custom knife field with its infinite creative possibilities, eventually leading to a successful collaboration with Owen Wood in 2003. My goal at that time was to develop a recognizable engraving style. Whilst I have enjoyed working in collaboration with highly skilled knifemakers, I realized that making and engraving my own knives would provide me with much greater artistic freedom and a deeper sense of satisfaction in the finished product. It has taken a number of years to bring this dream to fruition.
In my opinion, original thought, concept and design is the essence of a great knife. Excellent execution will never conceal poor design. In designing both the canvas for my engraving and the engraving itself I am able to reach level that is perhaps lacking when I am involved only with the design of the engraving. The first knife I made, the Little Orca blended elements of my engraving style into the design of the knife.
Since childhood, I have been fascinated by knives and my love of these objects has grown onto the desire and ability to carve & engrave them, and now, also to make them.