A proud Immigrant, with an architectural background, making knives
My name is Prabhs and I'm of Indian decent and my parents moved from India to the middle east, 30+ years ago and that's where I was born. I spent the first 17 years of my life in Oman, until I graduated high school (as a rebellious teen) and moved to Arizona to start my education in Architecture at the University of Arizona
I learned a lot in school and I met some great people. I also learned that power tools were awesome. This is where I learned that making a knife can actually be done with simple tools! I also learned that dealing with a new country, going to school on my own and understanding/living the immigration system was going to be a huge challenge. It changed me in a lot of ways
It was during Architecture school that my friend suggested that we make straight razors with the forge we had in the School of Architecture shop. Being the naive individual, I called him every expletive under the sun and decided to humor him. We made a trip to pick up the forge, went to our local gas station and picked up a propane tank, set it up and lit it for the first time
I heard the roar of the forge and I was hooked
After a lot of self reflection and questioning our life choices, I suggested trying to make a knife. Many failed attempts later, we realized the potential: simple tools have the ability to create so much
I started to make a few knives, here and there, and school took it's course and I had to focus on that and life, unfortunately putting knife making on hold. School eventually took me to Italy for a study abroad trip where I truly started to realize the power cooking and food has in creating experiences. We were introduced to students of various majors who had nothing in common with each other, except eating delicious food. Many dinner parties were hosted during our trip and many friendships were made. This was the start of understanding how cooking can bring people together
Cooking is one of those activities that I grew up with. My whole family are amazing in the kitchen and the majority of what I learned came from them! Moving to the US, forced me to spend a lot of time in the kitchen and I quickly found out that mass produced, store bought knives rarely are made to be enjoyable. They're made of materials that require little to no maintenance, they're "one-size-fits-all" (which isn't true) and they're made for the cheapest price to get them in the hands of the population. This didn't work for me and I began thinking about a solution
This is why I started Studio Singh. This is why I feel that cooking is something that should be held higher in our list of priorities. This is why I strive to design and make my knives not as something you use to prepare food but a tool that excites you to be in the kitchen knowing that it was made for YOU. It was crafted to reignite your friendships where you can relive memories with each other through food and conversation and foster new and strengthen existing bonds
This is my mission. Let me know how I can best design and craft an experience for you
- Prabhs