A 130-year knife-making tradition in Sinop: Cengiz Özekes and his son Kazım

A report in Anka Haber caught my attention: in Sinop, the 80-year-old knife master Cengiz Özekes keeps alive a knife-making tradition of about 130 years, passing it on to his son Kazım Özekes.

The family trade began in the 1890s with his grandfather, Hüseyin Usta. According to Özekes, during the Ottoman era Hüseyin Usta made knives and also took on jobs such as gun repair. Later his father, Kazım Usta, and his uncle, Ali Usta, carried on the work. After Americans arrived in Sinop in 1955, the trade entered a new stage, and Cengiz Usta and his elder brother modernized production. Today Cengiz Usta is the third generation and his son Kazım the fourth.

The master says interest in handcraft has declined, the apprenticeship period has ended, and sales have fallen because of products coming from the Far East. Still, he says, “We have given our hearts to this profession,” and people who care about handcraft still find him.

This is a story that reminds us that behind every blade lies labor accumulated over generations. I hope there will be more stories like this about masters of this kind.

Source: Anka Haber