W
hile the whole world was in confinement during COVID, Xavi Verd was forging his own destiny. While others were cooking or watching TV series, Xavi started making knives. A dream that turned into a passion. “I'd been wanting to try it for a very long time, he explains, and now I finally had the time to do it”. Alone in his workshop near Santa Eugénia, he threw himself into the adventure. “I love mechanics”, as evidenced by the metal carcasses and the dozen or so bicycles hanging on the walls of his workshop. “I also like working with steel,” he continues. Xavi also made the gate and staircase that lead to the new workshop he is currently fitting out upstairs. “Ever since I was little,” he confides, “I've loved making things with my hands. I inherited it from my grandfather. He was a master gunsmith and worked with steel. He also left me a wooden workbench with a press”. Xavi set off on his own, with the help of the Internet, trying things out, making mistakes and... starting again. “I've thrown away a lot of knives,” he says with a smile. “If you make a mistake, you can't go back. For example, on a penknife, if I make the hole too high, the knife doesn't close any more. There's nothing you can do but throw it away and start again”. The proverb ‘practice makes perfect’ has never been so true.