Thys Meades from Meadesknives (South Africa)

Born in 1973, in South Africa and now living in Port Elizabeth, a coastal town in the Eastern Cape province. I am married with three children. 

I started making fixed blade knives under the mentorship of Rob Brown, a well known South African maker, in 2014. About two years later I started making traditional slipjoints and became established in the USA market. After some time I started making front flippers in slipjoint designs using a mix of modern and traditional materials. 

In 2018 my first design was released called the Guardian, a back flipper, which set the stage for me in the flipper market. In 2021 I designed my second knife called the Flow in both a slipjoint and front flipper variant. In 2023, my third design, the Swordfish was born. This model continues to do very well although it is only built in limited numbers. 

I travel every year to the Blade show in Atlanta and enjoy meeting customers, new and old, connecting with my dealers and buying materials for the year ahead. My knife highlight was my Guardian design knife winning the Best Art knife in USN show in 2022.

I have an Instagram page (@meadesknives) where I post all my latest knives, a Facebook group (meades knives) for my knife enthusiasts, and also a YouTube channel (meades knives) where I post educational videos on how to make knives. 

I continue to design and make high end custom knives and look forward to many more years of living my dream.