Véronique Laurent

Brussels, Belgium

Guest Maker: 2021

        Véronique Laurent was born in 1968 in Belgium and now resides in Brussels. Initially, her interest lay in cold iron work, not making knives. In 2004 she attended a forging event where the Belgian Knife Society gave knife forging demonstrations and her passion for forging knives was kindled. She took a class from a Belgium bladesmith and he providing additional advice for a period of time. 


        In 2010, a French collector invited her to a gathering of bladesmiths. Laurent met Master Bladesmith Joe Keeslar of the American Bladesmith Society and became excited about their rigorous apprenticeship-based training system. After spending two years as an Apprentice Bladesmith, Laurent crossed the Atlantic to attend BLADE Show in Atlanta, Georgia, and passed her Journeyman Bladesmith test in 2013.


        A mere two years later in 2015 her growing skill set and passion for excellence allowed her to pass the very demanding Master Bladesmith test. At the time, she became the third female Master Bladesmith and she started knifemaking full time. In 2017, after lessons from a Master Engraver, she started engraving her knives. Her knives are in collections all over the world.