Born and raised Minnesotan Jacob Lundquist is the designer of the Kizer Varatas. He's got a Bachelor of Science in Design, has been an Industrial Designer, CNC Machinist, Manufacturing Engineer for nearly 20 years. He's been a knife guy for a long time, and can’t remember a time where he did not have a pocketknife. In 2021 he started Qvist Bladeworks, and subsequently Jacob Lundquist Design. He feels collaborations open up the EDC world. You can be freer to experiment and design more than just knives.

Products define a company, it may be their best selling item, or could be the first one they released. Examples of this would be Benchmade and its Griptilian. Spyderco and the Delica, or perhaps Buck and the famous 110. All of them defined that company and will forever by synonymous with them. When it comes to Kizer, I feel no other knife put them on the map as much as the Sheepdog. This Chris Conaway collaboration has spawned, a mini, an XL version, and many more. It's design is so popular that I feel helped define the company.

There's a ton of knife companies out there, so much so that the average buyer can get information overload. I'm always looking bring different brands to light to help people out, help make those decisions. A company I've yet to touch on before is CMB Made Knives. CMB Made has been around since 2010 and started as a third-party manufacturer and launching their own brand in 2020. The company is known for high quality knives at affordable pricing.