From a very early age Lautaro loved working and creating things with his hands. It was in his genes; his father painted murals, created sculptures and built scale models; his grandfather on his mother’s side, a car mechanic with a passion for knives, would let young Lautaro fiddle in his workshop. In his last school year, his metallurgy professor allowed him and a classmate to make a blade in his charcoal forge. Lautaro was hooked. After 6 months in college studying industrial design, he realized making knives was his calling, rather than designing automobiles. He soon began to sell his creations, attending local fairs and exchanging with recognized knife makers from his country. One of them was Mauro Santacatterina, practically a neighbor in Buenos Aires... Mauro, too, was attracted to handcrafts early on: one of his grandparents had an iron foundry and the other made anything – scale replicas of ships, knives, swords, firearms... – he could think of. Together with his father, who also had manual abilities, young Mauro made swords, shields, helmets and bows. He soon became interested in knives, fascinated by their history and manufacture, as well in ancient and medieval weapons, and blacksmithing in general. So much so that he would eschew university for knife making. He soon grew in his craft, discussing new processes and techniques with fellow bladesmiths, like Lautaro Julio – who soon floated the idea of creating a brand together.