Dmitriy Popov works alone from a Central Coast workshop, having moved north from Sydney's west after more than a decade there. A maker since 2011 and a member of the Australian Knife Art Association, he handles every stage himself, design, metalwork and woodwork, heat treatment, sheaths and finishing, and refuses to mass produce. His output is deliberately small: a handful of knives on hand at any time, each hand-crafted rather than turned out in volume. His stated aim is to make the best knife he can, not the most.