Contemporary Dha
 

Hi everyone,

Jesus Hernandez just concluded this W2 steel contemporary dha version for me. In the link there is the initial concept which is followed by the making of the dha.

http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/im...%20main800.jpg

As I receive it, I will take some studio pictures for better documentation.

I'm quite aware that most of you folks are into antique dhas or kris, but I felt the need to design my own swords.
Apart from being a Museum guy, I've been doing design for the last 30 years and there is more coming soon that I am sure you will enjoy.

Would be interested to discuss traditional and contemporary approaches coming from out of the ethnical environment. :)

Antonio

It's a nice sword and I love the temper line but it strikes me more as a Japanese short sword rather than a dha.

Lew

Hi Louie,

In fact you are right. Actually even in my specifications I used Japanese terms for convenience. If you check most of what is being done by non-native smiths, it is done with a hybridation of techniques as well as ways of holding the blade to the scabbard.
I think there is a lot of hybridation, from heat treatment. Bowies have temperlines nowadays, and they are native to colonial times.
I think this is how the world is heading. No excuses just an explanation :)

Antonio,
This is nice clean work. It does look Japanese. I now have this feeling that we have recently been looking at objects from two extremes. Offerings from the fantasist and the ergonomic product designer. Is it possible to capture that immediate cultural response with all the associated baggage? Court or bonded labour tradition? The village or less governed rural peoples interpretation often imitation of the former? :shrug: Is there a place for the contemporary? Excluding state paraphernalia and militia is it for combat or fantasy? :shrug: :shrug:

Hi Tim :) This is what I would call ethnic appropriation and stylizing resulting from hybridation to answer some specific needs in imaginary combat.
While kitsch is always associated with bad taste and appropriation of forms and shapes without having the cultural background for it, I think I have been personally exposed to both Thai culture to some degree as well as antique dha which leads me to think that it isn't kitsch. :)

No Court tradition but something designed bearing in mind usage of said item, mainly the ability to strike and disarm with both ends without removing the blade. So the answer is "combat". Then... once it is made it is not in the realm of fantasy, which is in fact to fantasise about some sword.

Did I make sense? :confused: :D

Hi Antonio,
very interesting project....fantastic result (I am asuming that the Dha is nicely balanced and 'fully functional'). Hybridation is surely a form of 'evolution' and if the 'evolved' sword suits the critia of its use, then IMHO it is a positive move. Obviously the advent of firearms effectively made swords 'extinct' (in a millitary sense) but, if this was not the case...there surely would be more variants of the edged weapons we all cherish.
Thankyou for the link....nicely 'laid out' and informative :)

Breathtaking hamon...

Antonio,
I just want to make clear I think your design if far from kitsch. Although I see it as extreme and personally unsure of the purpose, ergonomic product designer is an accolade. :cool:

Thanks Katana :)
Obviously swords are martially/military obsolete, that is why we can indulge in this area of creative work.
Thanks for the kind words. The blade is very nicely balanced and very very sharp. Jesus Hernandez is a Shinkendo teacher and our correspondence helped make the rest.

This is somehow a result of other speculative designs such as this one

http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/im...ha-1_small.jpg

or this one whose blade came from Aranyick

http://www.arscives.com/bladesign/im...ings_small.jpg

Nice wood work on all I think :) It is an important part of it.

Ciao Carlo,

Indeed :)

Hi Tim,

It never crossed my mind you were saying it was kitsch. I said it myself.
It was designerd for specific purposes of confronting a katana.
So the ergonomics serve that purpose. :)