Brown Cutlery Interviews Kit Rae
Below, is part of the original interview with Kit conducted by: Blades By Brown Cutlery, date and time of the Interview was not located. I could find no indication of when it was conducted. I tried contacting BBB to ask if I could use this interview on my webpages. I checked the website they listed during the interview, bladesbybrown.com and found it to be vacated. I then tried bladesbybrown.net and found that to be under construction also. So there is really no way for me to check the accuracy or content of this interview. So, here it is.
Intro
(BBB) Blades by Brown Cutlery was fortunate enough to be granted an interview with United Cutlery’s Art Director /Product Designer Kit Rae. We will first ask kit some questions about his position at United and try to find out just what he does there. Then we will try to find out more about Kit Rae the person.
So lets find out more about Kit Rae and what role he plays in bringing to fans some of the finest cutlery out there today!
BBB:
What inspired you Kit Rae to become a weapon designer and how did you enter into your relationship with United?
KR: Books like Frank Herbert’s Dune and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings sparked my interest in swords and fantasy. I studied historical oriental swords, European swords and early American knives. Those old Conan, Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars book covers got me into the fantasy end of swords. I studied anything I could get my hands on that had to do with knives or swords. The opening scenes of the John Milius film Conan the Barbarian, showing Conan’s father’s sword being forged, was a huge inspiration. I loved all of the swords and pit weapons that Ron Cobb designed for that film, especially the Atlantean sword and Conan’s father’s sword.
I was originally hired by UC in the mid ’80s to do concept art for knife design, packaging and advertising graphics. Survival knives were all the rage at the time due to the First Blood and Rambo films and one of my first projects was to help design a survival knife with a flashlight built into the handle. I did not know the first thing about designing a survival knife at the time and the resulting product, the Bladelight, is to say the least, rather “unique” (sarcastically spoken) product I created, it was a fun project though.
BBB: You obviously need a bit of an engineering and mechanical background to head up the department that’s charged with the design and production of the United Products…has that been self taught or did you attend a formal school to require the engineering education?
KR: I had no formal engineering background at the time. I was primarily an illustrator. After the Bladelight I thought I should learn a bit about my trade, so I studied the knives the top factories were making, read books, went to custom knife shows, and learned all I could about the design, engineering, and manufacturing of a knife. In the evenings I studied college engineering manuals for about two years, so I guess you could say I was completely self taught. I also had the advantage of being able to visit the top factories making our knives and learned quite a lot from them.
BBB: As United’s Art Director/Product Manager would you tell us what you do in your position?
KR: It has changed over the years UC has grown. I did everything for a while, ran the art department and supervised all of our catalogs and printed materials, supervised marketing and advertising, and designed around 70% of the products across the various UC brands, both functional and collectible. People would be surprised at how many “normal” knives I have designed. Now UC has grown so much that I have had to give all of those other responsibilities up and focus strictly on product design and development. I design and supervise for UC, Gil Hibben, Colt, the occasional Harley-Davidson knife, and of course my own brand. Basically it involves doing the actual concept designs, engineering, drafting drawings, and supervising the tooling and sample process. I have a crew of three people who work under me.
BBB: You have a very successful line of swords of your own available through United, “The Swords of the Ancients”, could you tell the fans a little about this success full line. And how it evolved into what it is today? And what can fans expect to see in the future from “The Swords of the Ancients”
KR: Around 1997 we realized there was a growing following for my UC fantasy knives and the work I had done on the Gil Hibben line was very, very successful. It was just was time to branch out and make a dedicated KR line. I had already been thinking of how to make a true line of fantasy knives work for years, and one of the things I wanted was to illustrate the world these blades came from with artwork and story. This was the perfect way to get some of my artwork in print as well. I designed the first two Swords of the Ancients, the Sword of Darkness and Sword of Vaelen, believe it or not, as Lord of the Rings swords. I tried to get the license from the Tolkien estate to do swords from the books. The sword of Vaelen was Narsil. I even did a few Sting designs! (click to view). We did not get the license, obviously. The Hilderbrandt brothers got it, two of my favorite Tolkien artists, next to John Howe and Alan Lee.
We made them anyway under the KR brand in the beginning, then later I started using my full name on my swords. They have gone on to become UC’s most successful swords, and probably the two most copied swords on the market. I wrote a short fantasy story about these Ten Swords, and each sword comes with a little chapter of it, along with a print of one of my paintings. There are two more swords to go in the collection. The 7th and 8th, Cinthorc and Molotoch just came out this year.
BBB: What has been the largest influence for “The Swords of the Ancients” creations?
KR: For the first two, probably the LOTR books. After the first two I just kind of did my own thing. Can’t really say what influences me, I just draw until I see something that flows, that feels right. Lack of sleep maybe!
BBB: What can we as fans look forward to from “The Swords of the Ancients”
KR: The last two swords, Avaquar and Anathar, will be out late next year. Anyone who has read the Ancients tale knows that there are only ten swords, and the tenth, Anathar, is supposed to be one incredible sword, so I have some designing to do! Of course there are all of the other fantasy knives in my line, which I have woven into the Ancients tale. The Fang of Baelin and Valdris have been very successful and I intend to keep designing more unconventional weapons in that vein. I have a new knife coming out later this year, Archeros, that is reminiscent of my work on the Gil Hibben line and another knife for early 2004 that is very Fang-ish. Plus I have a the “Eye of Drakonus” out now, my first “official” collaboration with Gil. Gil works with designer Paul Ehlers on his hand made fantasy knives. I serve the same function as Paul for almost all of Gil’s “production” pieces, but I could never put my name on those knives in the past, until this one. It was a little annoying whenever one of my Hibben designs appeared in a film or on a movie poster, in the case of Nemesis, and I could not tell people that it was mine!
Kit knows how to play Pink Floyd because he’s friends with them.
Kit, i have not ever met you. But i wish i could some day.
you are a sword idol of mine. maybe, not my wife’s, but me.
BBB: Tangerine Dream’s music, from 1971 to the mid eighties. I also listen
to classic rock like the Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, the Who and
classical. I also write music for the guitar. However, my favorite
thing to listen to when I work is my unabridged book-on-tape CDs of the
Silmarillion!BBB: Any words for the budding artist out there? Tips from the “pro” so to speak. There are quite a few individuals involved in knife and sword collecting and the fantasy world that would love nothing better than to make a career of the stuff you do…How do they start, how would they get a little of your luck to rub off on them?
KR: Unfortunately there is not much luck, just hard work. I was only lucky in that when I started there was no fantasy knife or sword industry, just some makers in the small custom knife community, so I was able to help create that industry for the production market and I was lucky enough to work for people who supported it and encouraged me.
I am contacted by people regularly who want to get into this business. All I can say is study anything you can get your hands on about knives and knife making. You have to know how they are put together before you can have a successful design, so get some engineering knowledge. Study blades throughout history to get a well rounded knowledge. For functional or fantasy swords, you need to learn all you can about design and develop your own unique style. There is no school for this work. Submit your work to knife companies and maybe you will find
someone who recognizes your talents will take you on. Try your best to ‘be original’ and come up with your own thing. It is hard to do that when just about everything has been done before, but that is how you will get recognized.BBB: Fans of the blockbuster series “The Lord of the Rings” have read many interviews, and seen many TV specials about what a monumental task it was to bring this trilogy to the silver screen. What we have not heard about is what role United played, and more importantly, what role Kit Rae played to make the Lord of the Rings Adult Collectible Series what it is today, and I quote, “The largest movie sword collection in history”?
KR: We really should not get any credit for that. It all goes to Richard Taylor and his team of great designers at Weta Workshop, and the sword making talents of Peter Lyons. If they were not superior swords in the first place, we would have nothing to copy. All I can say about myself and my crew is that we try and make them as accurate as possible, with every line and curve of the original props. Sometimes we are a little too anal about that. There are some compromises we had to make in a few places due to manufacturing constraints but I think overall we have been very accurate.
The above questions were directed mainly towards the business part of Kit Rae now for some more revealing questions, his likes and dislikes, and some advice he would like to pass on to others to others. More about what Kit Rae the person if you will.
BBB: Kit, I understand you are quite the artist as well…when did your interest in art, and particularly fantasy art, begin?
KR: My interest in art began when I was old enough to hold a pencil! I started drawing and painting when I was very young, probably at age six or seven. The Hobbit and Dune really sparked my imagination. The first two Star Wars films very a big inspiration. H.R. Giger’s work on Ridley Scott’s Alien film was another. You can see that in my Shadow Slayer knife design.
BBB: Kit, are there any particular fantasy, or other artists, that your are particularly fond of?
KR: I was a big fan of artists like Frank Frazetta, the Hilderbrandt Brothers, Michael Whelan, and Boris Vallejo. Jim Burns and Chris Achilleos were a couple of others. I like production designer Ron Cobb’s work for films like Alien and Conan. I was also a big fan of the early Heavy Metal magazine artists like Moebius and Richard Corben.Juan Giminez and Luis Royo’s recent art, and I love pin-up art. I could go on and on.
BBB: Which came first, your interest in blade design or the physical art portion?
KR: The art came first, then the blades. Although I love Frazetta’s art, the swords and knives in his paintings were rather boring. I wanted mine to be a little more interesting, so I spent a lot of time designing them beforehand.
TST: Does “Kit Rae” have a quote or adage that he lives by, a little tidbit for the fans?
KR: Not really. I’ll just say that you, and only you, are responsible for your success or failure. Success comes from hard work and dedication to what you believe in. If you persist and don’t give up, you will get where you want to be. I still have a ways to go.
Blades by Brown not only sponsors The Swords Tip but it also sponsors an up fast growing Fantasy site titled FantasyVault Net. We have been asked many questions from fans both at the board at Fantasy Vault and by direct e-mail about United’s products. We thought it would be nice to let them get involved in this interview. So we asked them to submit some questions they would like for you to answer. Here are a few:
FANS: Why doesn’t UC make functional swords? In other words why aren’t the swords made of Carbon Steel instead of Stainless Steel. Is this an option we may see in the future, and would you like to see this as an option?
KR: I would love to see all of our swords made from 1050 or A2 carbon steel, but we would not stay in business for very long. I estimate 99% of all swords are sold to people who never use them and would not pay the higher price for a functional sword. Most people are collectors. We have made functional swords in the past but the sales just don’t support keeping them in the line. The WMA market keeps growing, so you never know. I keep pushing the folks at UC to do a small functional sword line, but no luck yet. The LOTR swords are not made with sharp, fully functional blades because New Line stipulated that they not be. They wanted “collectibles” that were restricted to a certain cost ceiling.
FANS: I just heard that UC is not only limited to the Swords. I understand that they have now been granted the license to make Armour, Full Scale Helms, staffs and more. With all this it’s hard to decide which item to save my money up for. When can se expect to see some of these items?
KR: We are making helms, gauntlets, axes and staffs. Possibly shields and non-functional bows as well. Gimli’s and Elendil’s helms should start rolling out in the next few months. Staffs should be available late this year. About four new swords are in the works, the fighting knives of Legolas, Strider’s Elven knife, Anduril, and Theoden’s sword. Next year we hope to have the Elven warrior sword and a few more from ROTK. Probably Eomer’s and Eowyn’s. We are looking at the High Elven War helm and Gimli’s axes in 2004 as well, bur everything is tentative right now.
FANS: Wow! A Sauran Collection. What’s gonna be in this? ….I want it no matter what!
KR: Sauron’s gauntlet with the One Ring is in the works. Sauron’s mace should follow that next year. They will be very limited production runs. No more than 3000-5000 pieces. If we can get Sauron’s Helm made at a reasonable price we’ll do that one too, but it is looking difficult. It would be extremely expensive.
FANS: I would like to know how United Cutlery decides on which swords to make, and some details of the, process.
KR: It is based on a number of things: screen time, character popularity, book popularity, design recognition, and feedback from LOTR fans and collectors from sites such as this (thanks guys). New Line gives the final approval of our choices. Usually we are on the same page.
FANS: I would like to ask what Kit looks for in a new design. And when did he decide he wanted to design swords?
KR: I look for good flowing lines and attention to detail. I like something that hints at the old world but deviates into something unique and different. I also like a sword or knife that feels good in the hand, but sometimes I completely throw that out the window if I feel the design is stronger than the function, and if it makes sense.
KR: I always wanted to design swords, it just took a while for the folks at UC to let it happen. Swords require very expensive tooling and the manufacturing costs are enormous, so it is risky if they do not sell.
FANS: Something that interests me is the potential for swords from other movies like a Pirates of the Caribbean, or something to that effect, is there anything like that in your future?
KR: Right now Lord of the Rings is our main concern, but we are always looking at other movie projects so I’m sure there will be more to come! I have heard that John Milius wants to do another Conan film. I would also love to be able to do another Indiana Jones knife or sword. The new movie is in the works, so we’ll see.
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March 18th, 2011 at 1:42 am
[...] Brown Cutlery Interviews Kit RaeBlades by Brown Cutlery Interview with Kit Rae, Legendary sword and knife designer. … Below, is part of the original interview with Kit conducted by: Blades By Brown Cutlery, date and time of the Interview was not located. I could find no indication of when it was conducted. I tried contacting BBB to ask if I could use… [...]