Born in the USSR, or modern day Russian Federation, Alekseyev Ilya has from an early age expressed an aptitude for the visual and language arts. After arriving in the United States he has participated in multiple painting and art exhibitions. 

        After moving to Washington DC for graduate school, Ilya became involved with metalwork at Baltimore Knife and Sword. This gave him the opportunity to explore, in greater detail, the world of modern blade making. It is this position which also brought about the opportunity to participate in designing and execution of arms and armour for television and cinema. Ilya participated in shows like “Forged in Fire” and “Man at Arms: Art of War” for the latter he also performed the function of a producer. Currently Ilya focuses on executing his work with minimal modern tooling and prefers to explore the aesthetic sensibilities of the human hand. He works primarily in traditional Japanese and medieval European styles and techniques.