John Neeman: The Birth Of A Tool

Everyone has a lot of ideas when it comes to digital and selling brands. Awareness, seeding, ads, competitions, activations, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Everyone trying to keep their head that much higher out of the water than the next. Most of it is noise, absolute bullshit, but every now and then I see something incredible, something that doesn’t make me feel quite as dirty for playing in the digital sandpit. John Neeman Tools, a small crew of craftsmen (3) from Latvia, put up a video a few months back titled The Birth Of A Tool. It showed how they make their tools by hand, in the same way man has been making tools for generations. They’ve since had to stop taking orders in an effort to deliver on the overwhelming number of orders they have received. My point is (and it will be made clear when you watch the video) you don’t always need to make noise. If your idea/brand is good enough it will create it’s own awareness. We are a hungry lot, us consumers, and we are ever searching for something new. You don’t need to shout at me for me to find you, you just need to do something exceptional. Like this.

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How incredible are those videos. I want to live that life. If you told me you could teach me to be a smith and offered me a chance to move there and make tools for a living I wouldn’t even bother packing a bag. I’d be there. Most importantly though, for John Neeman Tools, I’m sold on their product. The fact that they have closed their orders for a while makes me want them even more.

I did a little reading and fell even more in love with the brand. All the copy on the site is badly translated – they are Latvian what do you expect, but it comes from a great place and their ideals are not easily found these days.

We are a small crew of craftsmen from Latvia who use our heritage of craftsmanship handed down through many generations to design and create woodworking tools and knives. Our process, our method and mission, keeps these traditions and crafts alive and well. In this high-tech age, our own traditional craftsmanship is flourishing.

In the description below the video is a Mahathma Ghandi quote:

“It is a tragedy of the first magnitude that millions of people have ceased to use their hands as hands. Nature has bestowed upon us this great gift which is our hands. If the craze for machinery methods continues, it is highly likely that a time will come when we shall be so incapacitated and weak that we shall begin to curse ourselves for having forgotten the use of the living machines given to us by God.”

Love it. I’m sold. I’ve put in my request and I’m now on the waiting list. I’m not sure if they can ship here, but I’m interested to hear from them anyway, and to see how they handle a request from South Africa.

Nash…
Out. 

Here’s Part II

thanks Matt