2022 Winner
The Worshipful Company of Cutlers is delighted to announce that the recipient of the Cutlers’ Award 2022 is Andrew Lindsay of Two Sticks Forge.
This new award has been established to offer help and support to knife makers and bladesmiths in the UK, with a particular focus on culinary knives.
The Cutlers’ Award has grown from a passionate desire to revisit the roots of the Worshipful Company which historically focused on the artisan bladesmith. We have become aware that over the past decade, despite renewed interest in the craft, there are many obstacles: lack of training opportunities, apprenticeships and mentoring schemes, not to mention the very high costs of tools, materials and equipment. This annual award includes a grant of £2,500 of which £500 must be spent on mentoring.
Andrew Lindsay of Two Sticks Forge was selected by a judging panel of industry experts; Swordsmith Owen Bush, Culinary Bladesmiths Blenheim Forge, Scissor maker Grace Horne and representatives of the Company. The panel was very impressed by the clarity of Andrew’s carefully considered proposal for technical development, equipment upgrades, and a mentoring component which clearly complimented this.
With support from the Worshipful Company of Cutlers, Andrew will invest in a new heat treatment kiln, expanding his capacity to reliably and repeatedly produce quality work. Under the expert guidance of Dr Larrin Thomas, a renowned steel metallurgist based in the US, Andrew will take his heat treatment knowledge to the next level, developing a thorough understanding of his blade steels and the best methods for heat-treating them - research that Andrew hopes to pass on to the wider community of knife makers in the UK in due course.
Andrew Lindsay
of Two Sticks Forge
