Who is this Fitz Guy?

You might assume that everything at Knafs was designed by Ben, and for a long time, you would’ve been right. Now that Knafs is growing at such a rapid pace, Ben spends most of his time doing CEO things, and product design isn't often one of them. That’s where I come in. I’ve been working at Knafs for about 2.5 years now as a product designer and developer, but most of what I do is trying to make Ben’s wacky ideas come to life.

I used to be completely behind the scenes, writing emails and creating 3D models. But now that the O.C.T. has launched, you may be wondering where this random knife designer came from. You might already own something that I designed, such as the Booster Bead, Bit Driver Grande, Knife Stand, or the Knafs Landana. I’ve been developing products at Knafs for a while now, and it can be a wild ride at times (most knife designers don't spend their days modeling corn scales and designing space kitties). While I don’t have a backlog of Youtube videos for you to go back and watch to get to know me, I’m working to provide a little more context on who I am, and how I design knives. 

My name is Matt Fitzgerald, but in the office, it's Fitz. We have another Matt who you may know as our operations manager, and his last name, (Wheelwright) is much harder to shorten. I’m from Layton, Utah, and I grew up about a mile and a half away from Knafs’ storefront in Clearfield, Utah. 

I grew up drawing, painting, playing soccer, reading, and being a terrible boy scout (stopped at 1st class, yikes). Growing up in Utah, you are pretty much instantly thrust into the outdoors, and while it took me a while to figure it out, I love being outside. I’m also a big car (or truck) guy, and I love working on my ‘69 Ford F-100. 

My time outside of work is mostly spent running, hiking, mountain biking, road cycling, playing pickleball, working on cars, and creating art, as I like to consider myself an artist as well as a designer. Recently I have also taken up hiking mountain peaks as one of my favorite challenges. Last year I did the more pedestrian Timpanogos in Utah county, and a few weeks back some friends and I hiked Kings peak, the tallest mountain in Utah, in just over twelve hours.

Perhaps my favorite part of my life is the people that surround me. I love hanging out with friends and family, and that's a big part of why I love the knife industry. Although I definitely have an advantage running around with Ben, one of the most well-known faces in the industry, I’ve found this to be an incredibly friendly industry to work in, with a community that is rivaled by none other.

Now what does all of this have to do with Knife design? In my opinion, everything. I think that all of the experiences I’ve had throughout my life have deeply influenced the way that I design products. From an early age, I’ve been drawing. I’m not sure what initially drew me to it, but I’ve always had a love for creating. Whether that’s woodworking, sewing, graphic design, welding, oil painting, or drawing, my whole life I have just loved making schtuff.

As I grew up, I also started to notice a love for the mechanical. I loved taking things apart and learning how they worked. As I went through high school, I was granted the opportunity to run the school store, and this is really where the design bug bit me. With the responsibility of stocking the school store, I took things very seriously (probably too seriously), and spent the entire summer ahead of my senior year designing T-shirts and coming up with ideas for products we could sell. 

During high school I also competed in Vex Robotics competitions. My job on the team was to design and build the robot we used to compete, and that posed some of the hardest design challenges that I have ever faced. It also taught me that I might have a knack for this kind of stuff, as we took 2nd place in the state and qualified for the world championships two years in a row. 

After high school I was as indecisive as ever, and the world was at a stand still (I graduated in the spring of 2020). So, I worked in a machine shop that manufactured gun parts as a machine operator for about a year. That job actually taught me a lot about manufacturing, and a ton about running a small business. But the real value of that job was the time I could spend listening to books and podcasts, thinking about how I wanted to spend the rest of my life. 

The next year, I decided to enroll at Utah State University, which had recently created a new program called Outdoor Product Design and Development. Now most of the time when I tell people this is what I studied, they ask if I design playgrounds, or how the city planning is going. But in reality this couldn’t be further from the purpose of the program. 

My program was very similar to industrial design, but with an emphasis on the outdoor industry. Being in Logan, Utah, we were in the perfect spot for product testing and industry outreach. I loved my time there, and learned a whole lot about design. 

Now as far as knives go, I am a huge fan of TJ Schwarz, Jesper Voxnaes, Jens Anso, Paul Munko, Lucas Burnley, Justin Lundquist, and a bunch of other designers that I am probably forgetting. I get a lot of inspiration from other knives, as well as things like cars, trucks, bikes, and even furniture. 

Recently I’ve turned into a bit of a collector, but it’s a little bit easier when you get that Knafs employee discount, and you can justify it by calling it market research. I’ve also been lucky enough to be gifted some knives from friends in the industry, and those knives mean more than any knife ever purchased.  

I can’t exactly explain what it is that has always drawn me to creating, or to design. But what I can say is that I have always loved stories. Storytelling is one of my passions in life, and it’s a big part of why I love to design. Nothing is better to me than reading a good book, watching an impactful movie, or reading a well-written article about the knife I just bought. Stories are what make good products great, and I hope that you guys enjoy the stories behind my designs. 

Knives are more than steel and micarta to me, they’re vessels for the stories I’d like to tell. Every design I work on carries experiences from my life: the art I grew up making, the machines I learned to run, the mountains I’ve climbed, and the people I’ve met along the way. My hope is that when you pick up one of my knives, it feels like more than a tool. I hope that you can see the work put into it, and the care taken to make it easy on the eyes. Hopefully It feels like something worth carrying, using, and maybe even worth passing down. 

That's all for now folks, follow me on Instagram @mattfitz_designs for more behind the scenes at Knafs, and subscribe to our newsletter if you’d like to learn more about how I design.