Today we’d like to introduce you to John Phillips.
John, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I moved to Knoxville, TN in 1999 to attend the University of Tennessee to study Fine Art.
After several years of studying art, I began to embark on a professional career in “making things”. For many years, I worked making all kinds of objects from custom furniture to concrete countertops to chandeliers. Until one day, I decided to combine my love of food and cooking with my work of “making things” and I made a knife.
It was one of the most difficult and mystifying processes I had ever encountered. In all of my years of “making things”, the creation of a knife, man’s oldest tool, I was challenged by so many factors. In that small, ubiquitous object were millenniums of science, history, and design. Despite the fact that millions of knives had been made, there was still room for more to explore.
So, I got deeper and deeper into the craft, becoming so obsessed that I decided there was no other choice than to “double down” and fully devote myself to learning everything I could about the “edged tool”.
Then in 2018, while peddling my cutlery at a craft show in Nashville, celebrity chef Sean Brock, passed by my table and we struck up a conversation. Shortly thereafter, my knives appeared in his New York Times best-selling cookbook, SOUTH and it was off to the races for me. Overnight, I was inundated with orders.
In my backyard studio, I first made knives out of salvaged steel from antique farm implements, sawmill blades, and worn-out files.
The pieces had a rustic but refined appeal and adorned homes and restaurants across the country. As I got deeper into the craft of bladesmithing, I began building some specialized equipment to help me explore more processes. So I explored the junkyards of East Tennessee and assembled a 42 Ton hydraulic press, by welding up old structural steel and adding motors and the ram from an international harvester tractor.
This machine allowed me to apply massive amounts of force required to create to recreate ancient processes of making “Damascus Steel”. Once I unlocked this process, the producers of History Channel’s “Forged in Fire” got in contact and filmed me for their program in January 2019 and the episode aired in July of 2019 (Season 6, Episode 20). Spoiler alert, I won the show… The prize of $10,000 was used to continue equipping my backyard studio to keep up with the demand.
In spring 2020, when Covid hit, just when I thought it couldn’t get any busier, suddenly, everyone in the world was a home chef and my inbox was flooded. Around this time, I was asked to design a line for Blackberry Farms to be offered in their store and catalog. The line was a huge hit and just pushed my business even further. At this point, I was covered up, with years’ worth of work ahead of me, I had to start thinking about building the business as well as the craft.
So around this time, I was contacted by the University of Tennessee about allowing their students to study my business case and processes. So along with a team of business school students and industrial engineering students, as well as my close friend Cameron Kite, we started evaluating the steps needed to scale up.
It quickly became obvious that the home studio was not going to work for much longer, so in October of 2021, I found a larger studio space close to downtown Knoxville and started fixing things up, and in May of 2022, I launched my new studio, called “PRIMEAUX” (pronounced Pre’-moh)
As the nature of my business has shifted I launched Primeaux as a more collaborative brand, where we are implementing new technology such as lasers and 3d printers to aid in production, and a way to more repeatable designs, as well as a new line of carbon steel cookware, that we have been developing.
Currently, my work is split into two parts, I continue to create kind pieces under the Phillips Forged brand where I do newsletter sales of 1-of-a-kind pieces, and the Primeaux line which will be launching soon!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It’s been a very rocky road to get where I am. I have literally sacrificed everything for my work, bootstrapping along the way and putting every night and weekend into it that I can, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The biggest struggle has been trying to navigate the growth, learning how to shift my thoughts from learning the craft to building the business.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I make handmade custom culinary knives. I am known for making a special type of steel known as “Damascus steel.” In this process I use special equipment to apply great force and heat to metal, yielding beautiful patterns.
My chef’s knives have been in Garden and Gun and NYT best-selling cookbooks. I was the winner of Forged in Fire on History Channel -Season 6, Episode 20
I have won 2 consecutive Best in Show awards at one of the most prestigious International Invitational Knife shows. My work is set apart by my use of special materials such as a meteorite, exotic woods, and “fordite.”
Before we go, is there anything else you can share with us?
We plan on launching the new line of Primeaux knives and cookware in the coming months, so to sign up go to www.primeaux.us.
and to get a chance to purchase one of John’s one-of-a-kind pieces, sign up for his newsletter at www.phillipsforged.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.phillipsforged.com
- Instagram: @phillips.forged and @primeaux.goods
