BUSINESS Arnon traveled to Japan and continued working as a bladesmith for more than 10 years and then moved to Portland. “When I was doing the R&D, he was teaching me,” says Eytan. “Bladesmiths are pretty one dimensional, and blacksmiths know how to do everything, so I learned a lot from watching him and him watching me and telling me I’m doing this wrong and that wrong. I learned how to move steel a lot better through him.” At the end of March, STEELPORT Knife Co. released their first batch of knives, which quickly sold out. While this batch was still mostly handmade by Eytan and one other knifemaker, they are combining traditional processes with modern innovations to produce a few hundred knives at a time moving forward. Their goal is to make a quality knife accessible (and affordable) for professional chefs and discerning home cooks. “We had to start with one knife and the obvious choice was the 8-inch chef knife because that’s the most versatile knife. And that’s the one knife that you need,” says Eytan of their flagship product. “We’re already working on two knives for the end of the year, for the holidays, and we should be up to five by the middle of next year.” Eytan notes that we are entering the “golden age” of knifemaking and that there are more knifemakers than ever before. Further evidence of a surge in knifemaking is the popularity of the reality competition show on the History Channel called “Forged in Fire,” which has bladesmiths recreating historical edged weapons. “Makers are popping up everywhere, and just like any beginning industry, not everybody’s very good, but we need more,” says Eytan. “I think we’re going to end up with an actual knife industry here, which is exciting to me.” For more information, visit steelportknife.com. 12 MAY/JUNE 2021 | ARIZONA JEWISH LIFE
The Event Genies and Jew PHX launch new Jewish professionals group
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etworking just got a whole lot more interesting. TribeNet, a group for “Heebs” who want to network, is ready to launch in May and hopes to change the way we network in the Jewish community. A collaboration between Alyssa Belanger of The Event Genies and Jennifer Starrett of Jew PHX, TribeNet will be a place for Jewish professionals looking to share ideas and information, connect and build professional networks, hear from leading experts on topics of interest, and, of course, socialize and have fun. Currently, a Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/ tribenetaz) has started as a way to connect TribeNet members, and plans are underway to create a member directory and a place to find business and professional profiles on jewphx.com. Alyssa has spent the last 20 years in the events industry and currently works to plan corporate and special occasion events. TribeNet will begin hosting in-person networking events include networking mixers, business panels and social opportunities to meet others
