Zwe
On February 5th, 2014, a Facebook page named “Zwe Metalwork” was created, showing photos of handmade knives. The name “Zwe” was made up by the page creator, as it is an easy way for English speakers to pronounce his Vietnamese nickname “Duy” (IPA: /zwi/). At that time there was no proper workshop, but only a hobbyist with a handful of tools working in his apartment in Hanoi.
In March 2016, there was another craftsman joined Zwe. He brought with him his tools from Thai Nguyen, and the two started making blades professionally in a small workshop located in the outskirt of Hanoi. The workshop no longer handled only metal products, so they dropped the “Metalwork” and shortened the workshop name to “Zwe”.
In 2019, the workshop moved to a new place, located on a hill in Ba Vi District, Hanoi.
Từ Việt Thanh
He is one of Zwe’s two co-founders, the one that named the workshop Zwe. Thanh is a self-taught craftsman. He mostly takes care of carpentry and bow-making projects. He is also in charge of the digital side of the workshop, which includes the website, Facebook page, and the YouTube channel.
Nguyễn Đức Duy
The second co-founder was also named Duy. He was a famous wooden sword model maker among Vietnamese cosplayers. He joined Zwe because he “Was tired of making wooden blades and wanted to make real blades”, and then he learned blacksmithing here. He takes the main role in blacksmithing projects and other metalwork.
