Ostap Hel Works with Bestech’s Youngest Designer to Bring Out the Ququ

Ostap Hel is an impressively prolific designer. Since showing up on our radar in 2017 he has rolled out an impressive range of knives, through different manufacturers, in different sizes, styles, and use categories. But even Hel needs help sometimes, so for his latest Bestech release, the Ququ, he partnered with a very talented young designer from the Bestech family.

Knifemaking skills very often seem to transfer from one familial generation to the next; that’s the certainly the case with Bestech co-owner Solina, whose 8 year-old daughter Gogo teamed up[ with Hel to create her first knife design. Picking a starting place was easy for the young designer. “Since flowers are already part of our growing Bestech Bouquet lineup she decided to choose the little cricket and base her first knife concept on its size and shape,” Solina says. Gogo also knew who she wanted to ask for help finalizing her concept, and it was the creator of the Bouquet series himself. “She knew exactly who should she ask for help,” continues Solina. “And Ostap did his best to bring her vision to life.”

Starting with Gogo’s concept, Hel began to tweak, refine, and dial in the details. Along the way he decided to spec the Ququ so that it could fall into that unique category of knives that could be a responsible child’s first cutting tool. “First of all with this design I wanted to meet the specific expectations and needs of an 8 year-old girl,” Hel explains. “A cute little tool she can carry and easily operate during her expeditions, and perform basic cutting tasks.”

The specs are suitably diminutive, then, a 2.2-inch blade with a symmetrical design that echoes the rounded head of a cricket. The blade folds completely into a handle that tapers like a cricket’s body, and cross-hatched too to mimic the look of folded wings over the thorax. The scales, which also house a button lock, will be offered in G-10, aluminum, and, later down the road, Ultem as well.

More importantly than any individual spec, Hel’s final design lived up to Gogo’s vision. In fact, Hel tells us that Gogo may have been bitten by the design bug (pun intended) for good. “She was really excited when she saw the final knives, and said she will try to paint more and design more knives in the future.”

Knife in Featured Image: Bestech Ququ

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