nrhunt.com Fine Hand Engraving, Sterling Silver Belt Buckles, Gold Buckles, Custom Belts

Neil R. Hunt ~ Maker of Belts and Buckles

Neil R. Hunt

I was born and raised in Northern Minnesota. Since I was five years old, I have been studying, making, and appreciating art. As a young man I studied the arts extensively and apprenticed with my father as a carpenter and woodworker. He taught me the value of traditional craft-work and the sense of connection and satisfaction that can be derived from it. He was my "Zen master". We approached our work philosophically; and we enjoyed it. Carpentry was a family tradition for generations and I found it to be a valuable extension of my arts training.

The Early Days

In 1984 I married Tori in Norway. Some time later we moved to Sedona, Arizona where I soon started making belts professionally, working with a friend who made, what I thought at the time, expensive belts. They were hand-stained harness leather belts with turn-of-the-century, gunstock-like embossing. We supplied Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman-Marcus, and the like. These belts had a blend of Eastern simplicity and American Western design. While designing for this line I was inspired by the incredibly fine and beautiful workmanship in old weaponry.

When the belt shop closed its doors, I decided to start making belts on my own. I wanted to make the finest belts that I could. I soon realized that would require learning to make my own buckles, so as to dovetail engineer the buckles with the leather straps as only a true belt-smith can. I familiarized myself with traditional regional and ethnic belt buckles over the years, largely by making custom belts for thousands of artist-made Western, Southwestern, Indian, and fashion buckles. The ones that impressed me the most were the Western engraved buckles. I remembered the gun-style engraving that I had really only seen in books, and thought that in order to make the finest belts possible, I should learn to do that style.

Learning Engraving

Engraved Buckles on Belts

Having set out to learn gun-style engraving, I came to realize that it was a very difficult skill to acquire and would require many years of practice to grasp even the basics. Fortunately, my wife's uncle, Ragnvald Frøysadal, was a master craftsman and lifelong traditional artist in the Gudbrandsdal-valley of South-Central Norway. Among many other skills, he also engraved. He shared his enthusiasm for decorative acanthus scroll-work with me many times. When I told him of my desire to learn engraving, he made a couple of gravers for me, and showed me his method of engraving. Ragnvald mentored and inspired me in the engraving skills, and in the decorative arts' design process.

Early in my engraving ventures, I also came to study under a master engraver from Austria. Franz Marktl is widely known in gun engraving circles as one of the best engravers now in the U.S. He decided to mentor me and taught me his Germanic style of engraving. I am currently engraving the scroll-work designs as I learned them from Franz. Although, I've ventured into adaptations of design based on influences from Ragnvald and from historic masters as varied as Michelangelo to Georgia O'Keefe. I keep the old adage in mind; "Do not follow the masters, follow what the masters followed."

Old World Meets American Flamboyance

I feel that living in the great melting pot of American culture, I was somewhat alienated from the grace of tradition that I should have inherited in the arts. Engraving seems to make that connection for me as a Northern European ethnic art. As a result of being greatly influenced by art and jewelry from the American West, and South-West, my work portrays a certain American flamboyance along with the "old world" European look.

When I asked Franz why he was taking so much time to help me, he said that I had a strong sense of design, which is the most important aspect of good engraving. He said that technique can be taught much easier than can a highly developed sense of art and design. To this day, I can confidently say that my designs are what makes my engravings attractive.

My work is always an opportunity to pursue excellence, and I find great personal satisfaction in that pursuit. I make belts because I love it, and I love it because I do it.

I work out of my home-studio in the North woods of Minnesota, where I live with my wife and business partner, Tori, and our two children.

Tori, Lisa, Espen, and Neil on the sun-porch.

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Musings

~ Why I Engrave ~

Neil engraving

The spiral fascinates me. For me it is the symbol of all that is, of growth and creativity. As seen in the helix of DNA and the scroll-like human embryo, to the unfathomable whirling galaxies throughout the universe. The magic ratio of 1- 1.6 (known as the Golden Section) seems to hold some kind of answer to my unspoken questions. Engraving little spirals might be acts of self-absorption for me, but the results of a few days efforts will produce a work that will hopefully please those who see it for hundreds, if not thousands, of years to come. I might be serving the world as best I can by creating beauty that, for me, symbolizes the work of the Great Creator.

I spend my days in my basement workshop which overlooks our garden, making little spirals in metals, constantly amazed that such a challenging task can be so enjoyable and meditative. As I learned from working with my father, I only really have the moment. So I choose to go from moment to moment with the intangible sense of the physical and spiritual connection to the world I derive best while interacting directly with the task at hand. I realize in most professions one needs all the technologies available to be competitive and do the best possible work, but engraving is an old world art and I feel a need to approach it in the old world way. I do my leatherwork with the same approach.

Neil

CURRENT DELIVERY TIMES: Subject to change
Standard & Annual Editions, Buckle Sets only ~ 2 - 3 weeks

Standard & Annual Editions, Buckles w/Straps ~ 3 - 4 weeks

Custom Hand Engraving ~ 2 - 3 months

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