Best
Made
Co.

When we last caught up with Peter Buchanan-Smith, he had just launched Best Made Co. with the goal of producing a beautiful, quality made axe. Some people thought he was crazy, but you could say that the handsome hatchets went viral—gaining tons of web buzz and selling in droves to both design aficionados and actual woodsmen. Since then, the company's been expanding beyond the axe with products that are just as thoughtfully designed, but a tad less dangerous. It's the kind of stuff that speaks to the little boy in all of us. "We want to offer products that will stand the test of time, and be a joy to use as well as look at," says Buchanan-Smith. Items like enameled cups, nickel-plated match safes or blue steel knives. "My grandfather's spurs occupy a very special place in my life not because I ever use them, but simply because they're evocative of so many great things." So what's on the horizon for Best Made? "We're doing some small things like a Japanese carpenter's folding knife, a brass ruler and a log carrier," he says. "We've spent the last six months developing a brand new axe with our axe makers in North Carolina, and then there's a top secret project we've been working on with Pendleton Woolen Mills."