The dream began taking shape for a South Carolina boy as he watched swordsmen in Star Wars and Conan the Barbarian movies conquering their enemies. It ignited a passion for a kid who was not popular and thought of himself as an outcast.
The fire Quintin Middleton first felt at seven or eight years old grew into a passion that still burns today as he crafts chef knives.
“I met someone that made knives for a living and I lit up. I was just like, ‘Can you teach me?’” The founder of Middleton Made Knives was 17 at the time. He refused to give up on his desire to become a sword and knifemaker despite being turned away by all but one of the bladesmen he approached. No Black men were practicing the craft anywhere near Charleston, South Carolina and very few in the U.S.
“It was so hard for me as a Black man to be a knifemaker. No one would give me the time of day or answer questions,” Middleton says. “A lot of them were hesitant about giving any information. They saw a young Black man infringing on what they are doing.”