Interviews

IFICAH Talk I – Dietrich Drescher and the Indonesian Keris, part I

Of all people, it was a German seaman who after the Second World War revived the forging of blades in Indonesia. Dietrich Drescher has acquired an incredible and enormous knowledge about keris manufacturing over the past decades. In this Interview of the ongoing series IFICAH-Talk, he converses with Dr. Achim Weihrauch, a renowned bladesmith from Efringen-Kirchen, about his oeuvre: The comeback of the keris culture in Indonesia.

Did you know…

  • …that in Indonesia the word for the craft of sword-smith is female? The idea being that the smith gives birth to the blade and his forge is a place of birth.
  • …that in the art of Japanese lacquer the brush used to paint the finest lines is made from the hairs in a rat’s armpit? They are the least exposed hairs in the fur of a rat, their tips multiple times finer than sable hair.