We recently connected with Noah Larson and have shared our conversation below.

Noah, appreciate you joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

I have been making knives as a means of income for 8 years. The last 3 years have been hyper focused on culinary knives with my current business, Larson Made. Like many creative professions, making constant income is very difficult. I don’t think being a craftsman or artist translates very well into our current economy in the United States. I had to redefine what profit meant to me because it is truly different for every business. If you base your business and metric for success on other businesses out in the world you will always be chasing your tail. After redefining profit in January this year I will be able to finally pay myself a borderline livable wage.

When I started making knives it was hot on the heels of a life altering car wreck. What I had considered my normal way of life had changed in a major way for myself and my partner. it took me almost 5 years to fully understand that who I am now is a totally different person than who I was before. Values changed, outlook on life changed, interests changed. It clicked with me that if I wanted to be successful I needed a brand that fully reflected me and my morals. If I hadn’t have fought accepting who I am now I believe I could’ve been in this position much earlier but I don’t ever hold it against myself. Everyone learns and grows at different rates.

For me, redefining profit meant a deep reflection. Who am I? What do I believe in? Where is my business now? Where is it going? And most importantly, how do they all mesh together.

In January of this year I was in an extremely slow season. So slow I was seriously contemplating giving up. So I started problem solving. I reflected on the past two years of running Larson Made to identify when I had found success and when I had not. I have always found the most success when I had just been myself and let my business reflect me. You can get so wrapped up in grinding to make money it is extremely easy to lose sight of where you are headed and who you are servicing with your business. I make cooking tools. I make cooking tools for chefs who love food and nourishing their communities with their passion. I make cooking tools with the old school mindset of servicing them for life. I make focused on responsible manufacturing, minimizing my carbon and landfill foot print. I HATE plastic. I HATE throwing things away that will outlast my existence on this planet and chefs do too. I realized these baselines were leading me somewhere. At the core of my being I think we should be leaving this planet better than we found it in our short lifetimes. How can I consider my business to be successful if I am putting the planet I live on at a deficit while running it?

I started focusing on minimizing waste and streamlining processes while keeping my standard of quality. Locally sourced handle material. Blade steel made by some of the oldest steel mills in the world from mostly recycled steel. 100% post consumer recycled paper packaging that’s also biodegradable. A product that is easy for me to service so my knives never end up in the landfill. As I have simplified, sales and profits have increased. And the most important part of all of this. Sharing my story and journey so that people know what Larson Made stands for. Once you start running your business true to yourself, success will follow.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

After a very rough freshman year as an athlete on scholarship to a California college I found myself back in Seattle. I had been playing soccer since the age of 5, playing in college was a dream come true for me. When the program ended up not meeting the promises it had made me I needed to recoup and find my confidence back on the field. I came back home and enrolled in our local community college and joined the team as I figured out what was next for me. What I wasn’t expecting was to find a partner. I met the most beautiful human inside and out. It was love at first sight.

A few short months into our relationship things changed drastically, We were in a car wreck leaving a party that severely altered our way of life. My partner had suffered a head laceration and concussion. I stopped the bleeding and kept her awake and talking as the ambulance arrived. This started a long journey for the both of us. Isabele was diagnosed with a Traumatic Brain Injury. She would never be the same person she was after that event. I was experiencing strong lower back pain and we were both diagnosed with PTSD. I would never be the same person I was after that event.

As I wrestled with accepting I wouldn’t be able to compete competitively I started exploring my interests. I grew up in a very creative household. Art supplies were always put right at my fingertips during my childhood and making art was something I did quite often. I dove deep into different creative outlets. I spent countless hours scrolling through the depths of youtube learning new mediums and techniques. Adam Savage was a huge influence on me. He created and fixed things in a unique freeform way that clicked with my mind in a way nothing had before. I was a very independent kid and that independence had been newly taken a way from me, but all the sudden I had found my freedom again from making. I ran with it and never looked back.

Making became more than my independence, it became therapy. While my partner was deep into her treatment for her traumatic brain injury I became her caretaker while she was a full time patient. We had to move to Arizona on a one month notice because she was accepted into the leading neurological institute in the country to receive treatment. We were away from our support systems and comfort of friends and family. Making forced me to be present. A one man shop can be a lonely and dangerous place to be. It truly is you against yourself. Standing at machines for hours at a time will tell you a lot about yourself. The deepest darkest thoughts and issues you didn’t think you needed to address start to creep out from the dusty forgotten corners of your mind. But if you lose your concentration, you can easily cause yourself physical harm in a blink of an eye. I had many close calls in the early days.

I remember vividly the pain my partner was in after her treatment. What people don’t understand about traumatic brain injuries is that they look normal from the outside, but the neural pathways they used to have are now broken. You feel like a stranger in your own skin. Your speech and word finding capabilities are stunted, your depth perception, balance and coordination doesn’t function the same as it used to. You don’t really understand where you are in space when standing in a room. Not to mention the constant splitting headaches that, to this day, still hasn’t waivered. As a partner the only thing I could do was give her a sense of comfort and normalcy in this foreign environment so I started cooking with a crummy set of knives. Every meal I put my heart and soul into to hopefully put a smile on her face and nourish her body so she’s ready for what tomorrow brought. This is when my path forward started show itself to me. Why was I not making cooking tools for people to use to nourish their families and communities? I made myself a chefs knife and the smile it brought to my face using a good cutting tool for cooking stuck with me.

I started to find myself and what I valued. Influences from my upbringing mixed with my newfound knowledge of the world led me to Larson Made. Quality, responsibly crafted cooking tools made to be serviced not replaced. We will all be cooking our entire lives, why not invest in one set of tools we love to use and will last. This mindset led me to an amazing community of chefs, cooks, and food lovers local to me here in Seattle and globally. A demographic of people who are hocked disposable cheap plastic solutions they don’t want. People who live to nourish and sustain their communities and not to mention are also some of the most creative and kind humans I have ever met. I found something I had not yet experienced in life. Acceptance from a community for who I am and what I do. Making is now a part of me and I will never stop.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

If you want to see creatives and small businesses succeed, we need to change habits. It’s very easy to start to feel like supporting small is out of reach or hard to find, I have fallen into this as well. Once you start to shop small you meet people. You see what others are doing for a living. You see how they’re breaking the mold of corporate America and doing their best to leave a lasting imprint for others to follow in. All it takes to be tapped into the world of real people putting their heart and soul into what they do is taking the first step to dipping your toe into the water. Go to the farmers market. Go to a local craft fair or market. Ask questions about what you’re seeing and how it’s done. You will see how much time and effort goes into what they sell. You will start to lead a more intentional life. You will meet people who will change your world view. You will understand what people need to make to earn a living and how our current economic structure punishes that. Diverse small businesses are the future and we all need you.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

“I can’t do that.” “I’m not talented or creative like that.” Both statements I hear constantly and wholeheartedly disagree with them. Yes, you can do it and quite frankly, you probably need it. Talent is a pursued interest. If you have an interest in making or creating, pursue it. If you don’t have the resources to dive in head first, arm yourself with knowledge until the time comes. Most importantly when you first start, don’t punish yourself for being “bad.” Set a realistic tone for yourself. Aim to have fun with no expectations of the outcome. I have been making cutlery for 8 years and I still mess up CONSTANTLY. One of the greatest and most important things we can do as human beings is create to add beauty to this world. Creating demands for vulnerability. Be uncomfortable. Make. Create. Most importantly, express yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Larsonmade.com
• Instagram: @Larson.Made @Larson.Built

Image Credits

Photos taken by Cece Krakenberg