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Kizer Fans Design Day Contest Winner Revealed

July 13, 2020

The winner of the product category for the Kizer Fans Design Day contest has been revealed. Against some expectations (namely our own), the winner managed to design a knife that met the contest’s fairly strict requirements.

According to the original contest rules, all entries in this product design contest needed to “be under 3-inch in length and 2-inch in width.” Those were pretty tight numbers to work with for a folding knife design, and we even posited that we would likely see something else entirely. “The dimensions probably preclude any conventional knife designs, but one piece multitools, whistles, carabiners and the like are probably likely categories,” we wrote at the time.

But we were wrong! A California designer who goes by the name “Mister J” submitted the winning design, and it is indeed a folding knife. The knife – which currently doesn’t have a model name – falls into the dog tag knife genre, with a very compact footprint that Kizer says is equivalent to that of an Apple AirPods case. “The designer wants it to be travel friendly, California, NYC, and EU compliant. He wants this knife to be minimalistic and fashionable — made for office environment and travelers,” the company wrote on the official announcement post.

The blade opens with a square cutout, and the blade shape blends a sheepsfoot’s tipless profile with the upward angle of a kiridashi. The two-piece handle is very thin and very simple, and as far as how the knife will stay open and safe to use, Kizer says it is working on creating a mechanism up to the designer’s specifications. At this point the knife is clipless, and the blade steel and handle materials are still TBD.

Mister J’s knife will eventually enter Kizer’s line as a full production piece. In addition to the product category, Kizer also accepted submissions for a patch design; the winner in that category has yet to be announced. And if you submitted a design that didn’t win or missed your chance, don’t worry: Kizer has already said they’ll be running the contest again in the future.

Knife in Featured Image: Kizer Fans Design Day Contest Winner

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