Ibba Daniele

19 November 2014 Author : Alessandra De Santis

CIC Master since 2008, Daniele Ibba earned this title only four years after taking the road to knifemaking.

Ibba, a goldsmith by profession since 1993, has immediately shown a natural talent for the art of knifemaking.

The passion for knives came from a set of coincidences, but it was already ingrained from childhood; thanks to the Sardinian origins of his father, the traditional Sardinian knives, such as the classic resolza made by local craftsmen, were always around at Ibba's home.
The creations revealed by this knifemaker's works are the result of perseverance and dedication that Ibba has given to this passion, learned in a completely self-taught way.
All knives are entirely handmade, without the aid of automated machines and CNC which, as pointed out by the knifemaker, would remove the taste and the pleasure of creating something unique with his own hands.
Ibba, in the course of one year according to requests and projects, creates between 6 and 12 knives, employing an average time of between 70 and 100 hours for each knife (for easier projects), and 200/250 hours of work for more elaborate projects (as integrals and daggers). In any case what matters to the knifemaker is the end result and to reach the goal, without pre-establishing a time limit.

To paraphrase a famous quote from Stephen King, "what separates the talented person from the successful one is the hard work", and that's how Ibba was able, in the short time since he started in knifemaking, to pass the Master CIC exam.
To our question about his experience during the examination, Ibba stated to us:
"having to make 5 well done knives, knowing then that a committee made up of very competent knifemakers would judge your works, has not been a walk. I knew the criteria by which they would consider my work, but you can't be sure that what you did is enough to become a Master, so I worked for almost four months on those 5 knives with that hope.
Then when the morning of the exam came, I saw that there were a lot more people who aspired to the title than I thought, and also there was a nerve-wracking wait. I understood that on that day only two Masters would be appointed, and I thought that it would be unlikely that I would be one of them. But instead,to my surprise, I received that title. "