Craighill Sidewinder: Wow Factor

The video starts with a close-up against a black background with backlighting. Modern, electronic music plays. "I've never seen a mechanism like this," a voice says. "We discover things ourselves, and when we see something, we say, 'Wow, that's really cool! That's worth showing everyone else.'"

Based solely on this script, it's impossible to tell if this is an announcement for the new iPhone or a knife. But in fact, the video titled "Meet the Sidewinder Knife" is about the latter. The voice turns out to be Chen Chen, who is one of the Sidewinder's designers.

"Perhaps this is the first time someone has stopped to look at how a knife opens." This question, which Chen poses in the introductory video, is, of course, a statement, a slight provocation, if you will. Not to the customers, but to all other knife manufacturers.

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The two designers behind the Sidewinder: Kai Williams and Chen Chen have been running their own design studio since 2011. Photo: Chen Chen & Kai Williams

Many people, likely the vast majority, would probably answer no to the question of whether they want to buy and carry a pocket knife. The reasons are certainly varied; some may fear knives due to the political decisions of recent months and definitely don’t want to be looked at sideways when they pull out a knife in public for a quick cut.

And this is where the Sidewinder comes in. Because if you’re looking for a heavy-duty work knife with a large blade, you won’t find it here. Instead, in New York, they focus on simple, modern, and above all, normal-looking pocket knives. Both the Lark and the slightly larger Rook model, which visually resembles the CIVIVI Elementum, are sure not to scare anyone away at first glance.

To celebrate the first edition, there was a special patch for the Sidewinder featuring the snake that inspired its name. Photo: Craighill

With the new Sidewinder, the aim is to take a step further: to get people to stop out of curiosity and try it out. There’s a reason why Chen Chen mentions the above question in the introduction video for the Sidewinder. The knife has a unique feature: its lock.

The handle scales of the Sidewinder are split into two parts, which can be pulled apart. Their unique shape is inspired by the tracks left by the namesake snakes (sidewinders) in the sand. When opening, one part of the handle scales glides over the other while simultaneously pulling out the blade.

That more can move when opening a folding knife than just the blade is, of course, nothing new. The CRKT Provoke is certainly one of the most prominent examples of such a mechanism in recent years. But unlike other knives, the Sidewinder is primarily not aimed at being a functional tool. It’s a designer piece that looks good but doesn’t necessarily have to be suitable for everything.

Designer Kai Williams (r.) was inspired by a parallel ruler he played with as a child. Screenshot: Craighill / YouTube

You can quickly notice this in the operation of the handle scales, which exhibit a noticeable play due to their construction. The force required to open the knife is also likely to stand out to some users.

"Oh my god. This is insane. This is the coolest knife I've ever seen," says Ellen Van Dusen, founder of the textile brand Dusen Dusen, after first holding it in the video. She exemplifies all the people who, in their daily lives, primarily deal with knives when preparing food and belong to the aforementioned part of society who actually have no need for a pocket knife. "I'm not really a knife person, you know. But how did you do this?" It becomes clear: the plan works.

"I wouldn't call myself a knife person. My parents are architects, so I grew up with a lot of manual drawing tools," explains Kai Williams, the second lead designer of the Sidewinder. "One of the tools I always played with was a ruler that you could use to draw parallels or extend lines. What I always loved as a kid was the changing interplay of the connections," he explains, while showing such a parallel ruler to the camera.

Perfect for slicing apples, but the Sidewinder is not recommended for tougher tasks. Photo: Craighill

Such a parallel ruler consists of two individual rulers connected by rotatable rails to form a parallelogram. "I think I used this thing as a kid and imagined a sword from it. I think that's what kids – some kids – do. That might be the story of our studio."

Chen Chen and Kai Williams are designers of all sorts of things. On their Instagram account @chenandkai, you can find mirrors, tables, lamps, and wall clocks that certainly wouldn’t be found in any furniture store. The two met in the early 2000s while studying industrial design at Pratt Institute in New York. In 2011, they finally founded their joint design studio. Their creations have been exhibited at the Museum of Art & Design, the Design Days of Dubai, DDays Paris, and the Venice Architecture Biennale.

The first prototypes of their Sidewinder knife already looked like the final model, but had a problem with the lock. "Craighill's precision is why I wanted to ask them how we could achieve this," Chen reveals. "I think it was many times higher than our level of precision," Williams adds.

The manufacturing process of the Sidewinder dragged on for several years due to construction issues. Photo: Craighill

At a dinner with Zach Fried, co-founder of Craighill, Chen presented his prototype. "I brought it and thought I could ask Zach or Hunter for their expertise on how we could make this thing," he explains. "Mid-dinner, Chen reaches across the table and says, 'Hey Zach, check this out.' I open it, and there's this movement that's incredibly surprising. It does something I've never seen before," Fried reports. "It felt like I was seeing an invention. I took the prototype from the restaurant, brought it to the office the next day, and said to Hunter, 'You have to see this.'"

Hunter Craighill founded the New York company in 2015 as a "design and production brand," as stated on the company's website. Its roots lie in "curiosity, ingenuity, and satisfaction," knowing "that the world already has too much 'stuff' and that you don't need another shiny object." That's why they design products that are both functional and timeless. "You could say that we work really hard to make everything look and feel so simple, but this super-iterative, detail-obsessed approach to design and manufacturing is only part of the story."

The Sidewinder fits into EDC even if the carrier doesn't even know what EDC is. Photo: Craighill

Anyone browsing Craighill's collection will find everything a design lover could desire. Alongside elegant cocktail sets, headphone stands, and gold trays, there are also hourglasses and money clips. Just everything you would find in a well-furnished loft. Some might call it fancy, while others see it as designer objects.

And of course, one can argue whether one really needs a coat hook for 48 US dollars apiece or an extravagant standing magnifying glass for just under 250 US dollars. That's clearly a gimmick for those who can afford it – and want to. But Craighill's knives are different.

For instance, there's the Lark. A pocket knife that measures just under 11 centimeters when opened, with a 3,8-centimeter blade. The thumb stud, flipper, and frame lock are all so small that they are barely operable with one hand or a single finger. Due to its size, the knife is at best useful as a package opener, yet it enjoys great popularity.
Available in four different color variants and equipped with 12C27 steel at a price starting from 79,99 euros, it is certainly no bargain in terms of value, but it is a knife for all those who don't actually want a knife.

Once the Sidewinder is opened, you no longer notice the special mechanics, which is, of course, intentional. Photo: Craighill

"We kept running into obstacles because we thought we had solved the problem, but it wasn't solved yet," Fried explains. Together with Craighill, after several years of development, they finally found the solution to their design flaws and launched the Sidewinder.

It was important to the designers to create a knife that stands out: there aren't "many products nowadays that you can just discover when you encounter them," Chen criticizes. "You've seen a picture of it, you've seen a video of it, and you already have an idea of what it will be like." That's different with the Sidewinder. "I always envisioned this knife as a knife for people who don't normally carry a knife," Williams confirms. "It's a friendlier knife."

Should you replace your Benchmade Bugout or Spyderco Paramilitary with the Sidewinder? Probably not. But is it an extraordinary knife that will definitely spark conversation among other enthusiasts as well as people outside the knife scene? Absolutely.