Julia Kalthoff

Axes have always captivated me, the history, the aesthetics, the culture. When humans began making axes 2.5 million years ago, it marked a turning point in our evolution. With an axe we learned to fell trees, build shelters, hunt, tend fires, explore new lands, and create new societies. It is a tool that has shaped us as much as we have shaped it.

My own journey with axes began with a curiosity for the raw, physical work of shaping glowing steel with my own hands. I learned the craft at Gränsfors Bruk, and later worked at Wetterlings, first as a temporary manager and then as CEO. Being part of these teams was an honour, and those years taught me more than I could ever have imagined.

Starting my own company allowed me to work on a smaller, more intentional scale, creating conditions where I could stay true to my values in every detail of the tool and in every step of the making. Holding high standards without compromise is what motivates me. Making axes, using axes, and studying the subtle details of an axe continue to fascinate me endlessly.

I love the feeling of working with an axe, finding your rhythm, staying relaxed, letting the tool become an extension of yourself. Sometimes you move with full-body strength to remove big chunks of wood, and other times you carve translucent shavings with quiet precision. You disappear into the grain, reading it to know where the next cut should be. You listen to the sound of a sharp edge in green wood. The shape slowly emerges, guided by your aim and your attention.

The axe has always been essential to human life, and in many ways it still is, though for different reasons today. Working with your hands grounds you. It helps you connect to the world with more humility and respect. Craft and nature have become a refuge for many people in this fast-spinning world. The axe embodies a different kind of strength, a strength of presence, patience, and intention.

I make axes out of curiosity and a deep love for the tool itself. And because making tools for others sends ripples outward, waves of inspiration and possibility. I hope the axes I create encourage people to make things with their own hands, and that they bring others the same calm satisfaction they bring me.

— Julia Kalthoff