Special craft: the world-class engraver from Swabia

“It's passion, it's my life,” says engraver Richard Maier.

In addition to fine watches and hunting weapons, he primarily transforms luxury knives into unique items.

In his studio Trompeter & Ritchi, based in Bondorf near Stuttgart, he works with his partner;

she is responsible for the visual representation of the workpieces.

Maier's working day lasts 8 to 14 hours.

The annual turnover moves according to own information in the six-digit range.

Maier's new collections usually appear at the beginning of the year. Customers can also have an engraving made. Trompeter & Ritchi produces up to 20 knives with and without engraving each year. The price for a non-engraved knife starts at around 2000 euros. Maier designs the knives and has them made by a knife maker. The leather sheath comes from a saddler. “Here, too, the work is extremely precise, everything has to fit,” he says. At the end of the production process is the bookbinding, which makes cardboard boxes by hand.

Maier engraves on metals, such as steel, gold and copper, and on mother-of-pearl.

“I don't engrave raw materials that are subject to species protection and I try to use sustainable materials,” he says.

Sometimes the customer gives a motive or a topic.

Some clients chose very personal motives, such as their beloved hunting dog.

They were happy when he managed to depict the animals with their souls.

He once engraved pheasant feathers on a shotgun.

“I spent hours and days observing and photographing pheasants,” says Maier.

Pneumatic tools save energy

There are a handful of elite engravers in the world whom he sees as competitors. “It's like having to choose between a Ferrari, a Bentley and a Rolls-Royce. It depends on the customer and which style they prefer, ”says Maier confidently.

Maier uses classic tools, a burin in his left hand and a chisel hammer in his right. A graver is a chisel with different grinds and angles at the tip. The graver is driven by the chasing hammer. However, pneumatic engraving tools have also found their way into the world of hand engravers: The burins are driven by compressed air and foot pedal control. This enables you to work with less effort. The hammer is gone, and Maier can work faster and more concentrated. “The hand still guides the chisel. It doesn't matter whether it is operated pneumatically or by the second hand with a hammer. "

The engraving ball is also important for every hand engraver.

This is a vice in which the work pieces are clamped;

you can then turn it to any position.

A microscope, magnifying glass and good light are also a prerequisite for precise work.

Sometimes more than 1000 hours

Maier often works on several engravings at the same time in order to maintain his concentration and precision.

If he works on an object for too long, he “no longer sees things as they should be”.

Then he stows the work away and takes it out again soon.

He then very quickly discovers small details or opportunities for improvement, for example “a passage that is not yet engraved as it should be”.

Maier needs a few hours for small monogram engravings, complex projects can take well over 1000 hours.

Maier has already worked with the Swiss luxury goods company Richemont.

He engraved Piaget watches and Montblanc writing implements.

Maier is not allowed to give precise information about his customers.

They are wealthy people, including collectors from all over the world, for example from Abu Dhabi, Moscow and San Francisco.

Many clients passed on their property.

One customer presents it in a showcase, the other in an armored glass case.

"You pass on some of your inner energy that you let flow into your engraving, and someone else can enjoy it," says Maier.

Fragments of mammoth teeth

Maier also engraves “Scrimshaw” objects.

Scrimshaw is the name given to engraving on old horn and tooth materials from animals.

The oldest works of art on earth, which are around 45,000 years old, include small carvings, for example on mammoth ivory or teeth.

Engraved lines were also found on a very old moon phase calendar made of mammoth bones.

Former US President John F. Kennedy owned an impressive collection of scrimshaw objects.

One of his speeches showed the engraved teeth on his desk.

Scrimshaw came to Europe in the mid-1980s.

Maier was one of the first to make such objects.

In Scrimshaw, he uses the burin on polished stag horn or cattle bones.

95 percent of the time he uses fossil materials such as fragments of mammoth teeth from Siberia or Alaska.

Depending on the quality, the prices for one kilogram of mammoth fossil material fluctuate between 100 and 1000 euros.

The main tools for engraving the animal materials are stone needles.

Maier's engravings are often only a few centimeters small.

The price for a monogram engraving starts in the three-digit range;

complex projects are much more expensive.

An object of a luxury manufacturer that he engraved has been sold for one million euros.

The article comes from the school project “Youth and Economy”, which the FAZ is organizing together with the Association of German Banks.