RICHARD TESARIK

Richard Tesařík was born in 1967 in West Bohemia. However, his family fate soon took him to the other side of the country, to the Moravian metropolis of Brno, where he still lives today.

Already as a boy he had a lot of energy that was already bubbling to the surface. At school, I was guilty mainly of „inappropriate behaviour“ and so I tried to curb it with various artistic activities. My parents channeled it in the best way – they enrolled Richard in school art classes. „There is probably no art activity that I didn’t try at that time.Ceramics, embroidery, painting… All this shaped my view of aesthetics and manual dexterity. It was probably thanks to these experiences that I became fascinated by the magic of the handmade knife,“ Tesařík recalls. During the holidays, when he spent his free time outdoors, knives became his good friend.

Aesthetics and the expression of the essence of things in shape, colour or material became a defining factor in Richard Tesarik’s life even in adulthood. For two decades, his main source of livelihood was the jewellery trade. At the same time, he discovered the joy hidden in music and began to shape it as a drummer in rock-pop bands. His admiration for handmade knives grew, even buying a Buddy Weston knife and carrying it around like a treasure. „Little did I know that in a few years Buddy would become my teacher and mentor,“ smiles Richard Tesarik.

A major turning point was the return of his wife from maternity leave. While Richard was persuading her to return to her engraving and restoration work, he realised that a new obsession was being born. An obsession so strong that he couldn’t even perceive the passage of time. An obsession with the world of honestly made closing knives.

„The search for an artistic form and space that reflects my perception of beauty. The overall feeling and impression. The combination of aesthetic design with precise functionality, where everything fits as it should. The perfect sound when the knife clicks…“ It takes many tens of hours to create such a knife. Although Richard Tesařík does not part with his creations easily, he does not suffer from nostalgia. „When I hold it in my hands today, I see a lot of mistakes. But I’m also proud to say that it was a pretty decent attempt.“

When is Richard’s knife finished? „I try to capture the idea and soul of each knife so that it exudes purity and simplicity. If another hit would violate that principle, I consider the knife finished. But it often happens that I still intervene in a seemingly finished thing. I also take my wife’s opinion into consideration. If there’s something that doesn’t look right at first glance, I know that it needs to be improved.“

He doesn’t like to ask trite questions about sources of inspiration. „I’ve been inspired by almost fifty years of my life. Every moment I’ve had has somehow influenced me and my knives. I don’t just react to some fad,“ Tesarik explains. This is also why his knives have lasting value. Somewhere in the artist’s head or sketchbook, an imaginary perfect, masterful, best knife is born over the years. „I don’t know yet which one it will be and what it will look like. But one day it will come,“ concludes Richard Tesařík.