Meet the Maker: Kurt Glatt of Messerschmiede Glatt

Kurt Glatt’s route into bladesmithing began with a pocketknife made in a garden. An acquaintance arrived at his old workshop carrying a knife he had forged himself, using the simplest equipment at his parents’ home. Kurt had long been interested in forging, but until then it had felt beyond his reach. Seeing that knife changed his understanding of what was possible.

The work that followed was considerably more demanding than that first encounter suggested. Learning to make a knife meant learning the techniques, finding or building the equipment, and gradually bringing every stage of the process to a standard he was willing to accept.

Kurt now makes knives as Messerschmiede Glatt in Freiburg, Germany, working primarily on fine kitchen blades. His is a one-person workshop: from forging the steel to shaping the handle and making the final passes on the sharpening stone, he carries out the work himself. Our first release introduces two examples of that approach, but the story behind them begins with the appeal of making something tangible.

From digital work to the workshop

Kurt’s background lies in graphics and programming, where much of the finished work exists on a screen. Making things by hand offered a different kind of satisfaction: an object he could hold, whose surfaces and materials he had worked directly.

Wood was already a familiar material. He had spent considerable time working with it before taking up forging, and the handles of his knives continue that interest. Knifemaking gave him a way to bring that earlier experience into a craft with an entirely new set of technical challenges.

Kurt is candid about the early learning. His first fifty knives had not reached a finished, usable state. He was developing his techniques while also building much of his own machinery, with a perfectionism that could sometimes get in the way.

The early workshop was a place to learn how to make the tools as well as the knives.

One maker, from beginning to end

Kurt begins with the steel. Some blades use a single steel; others bring several together through forge-welding at high temperatures. He forges the blade, grinds it and builds the handle, carrying the knife through the full sequence rather than concentrating on one part of its manufacture.

The time at the anvil is a smaller part of that work than many people imagine. Much more of the process is spent grinding and attending to details. Moving from very coarse work to very fine finishing is one of the things he enjoys most: the craft asks for different kinds of attention as the knife develops.

Kurt estimates that a knife generally takes ten to twenty hours to complete, while an elaborate Damascus pattern can extend that work to forty hours or more.

Precision matters throughout, particularly in managing the steel’s temperature during forging and working it neither too cold nor too hot. There are many later stages at which an error can still compromise the knife. For Kurt, that demand for sustained attention is part of the attraction.

Function comes first

Kurt describes the craft as functional art, but he is clear about the order of those two ideas. A knife must work before anything else. Its appearance matters, and making it offers considerable creative freedom, but the finished object is intended to be used.

“A knife is a tool. I forge it so that it will be used, and so that someone enjoys using it.”

Kurt Glatt

That practical requirement sits alongside a strong appetite for experiment. Kurt is particularly drawn to difficult combinations of metals: materials that do not readily join, and processes that give him something new to understand. The technical challenge is itself a source of creative interest.

For Kurt, understanding materials extends beyond the blade. It includes how handle timbers are selected and joined, as well as how steel responds to heat treatment. The aim is a complete knife in which careful workmanship and useful function belong together.

A handle shaped by use

The handle is one of the clearest ways to recognise Kurt’s work, and its development is closely tied to use. He began with the traditional octagonal Japanese handle, then gradually adapted the shape to suit his own needs and hand positions. What emerged over time is a form he regards as a particular signature.

That history gives the facets a purpose beyond appearance. The shape developed through changes to the way the handle met his hand. It is a useful detail to keep in mind when looking at the defined surfaces of the ebony and Hempwood handles in this first release.

Kurt likes working with stabilised timbers, explaining that the treatment makes them better suited to the demands of a kitchen. He also enjoys unusual woods, including roots and burls. His interest is in the individual character of the material as well as its suitability for a handle.

One material he discusses with particular affection is locally sourced bog oak. He recalls acquiring half a trunk and says his timber was dated to between 3,000 and 3,400 years old. Its history is part of what makes it rewarding for him to work.

Introducing Kurt Glatt at Modern Cooking

For Modern Cooking, the first two gyutos bring these aspects of Kurt’s work into focus. They are quite different in appearance, but both give us reasons to look beyond the blade finish: the profile, the handle’s shape, and the care taken where the materials meet.

The 235mm gyuto combines 98 layers of Apex Ultra and ProCut Damascus with a faceted, chocolate-toned ebony handle and polished titanium bolster. A mirror polish gives the blade its reflective surface, while a subtle grey etch reveals the movement of the pattern. It is an expressive piece of steelwork, presented with a finish that remains refined rather than relying on harsh contrast.

In hand, its balance and ergonomics are just as compelling. We would describe its profile as a modern hybrid gyuto, drawing on both European chef’s knives and Japanese gyutos. The visual complexity is a reason to examine it closely, but not the only reason we chose it.

The 1.2419 monosteel gyuto offers a more restrained expression of the same maker’s work. Wide, fine convex bevels sit beneath a textured brut de forge finish, with a touch of flame-blue colour around the neck. Stabilised Hempwood and a faceted titanium bolster complete its hidden-tang handle. Here, the emphasis is on clean construction and a knife intended for daily kitchen use.

The pair is a useful introduction precisely because the knives are not trying to do the same thing visually. One gives more room to the pattern in the steel; the other brings attention to the broad bevels, forged texture and handle. Each makes Kurt’s interest in the complete working object visible in a different way.

When a knife finds its home

Finishing a knife brings Kurt back to the satisfaction that drew him into the craft. After the final strokes on the sharpening stone, he can hold an object he has made from beginning to end. With so many hours invested, an attachment develops, and letting a finished piece go is not always easy.

A commissioned knife brings a different feeling. When he has worked with a particular customer in mind throughout the making, delivering the knife can feel like it is coming home. The person who has been waiting for it is already part of the process.

He hopes to see a renewed appreciation for good craftsmanship and for objects that remain useful for a lifetime, ideally passing to another generation. For him, the value of a well-made object includes the possibility that it will remain part of someone’s life for many years.

It is also a fitting way to introduce his work at Modern Cooking. These knives reward attention to the maker and the materials, but their intended place is in the kitchen. The story continues with the person who uses them.

Explore Kurt Glatt and the first Messerschmiede Glatt knives at Modern Cooking.