Blood, Sweat and Gold: The Craftsmen Behind Boxing’s Championship Belts
“When I first started working with my grandfather I thought that university had taught me how to think, and that my grandfather would teach me now how to work,” explains Majian. “But I remember watching him at the bench and thinking that he has the discipline and strength of mind of a Zen monk. He would spend hours and hours at a bench doing something that would drive most people mad.”
It takes a lifetime to master, and a master to teach how to place crystals the size of needle heads on a piece of metal personally cast from a mold you’ve hand-sculpted from rubber, then polished and plated with gold. You need expert tools, some custom made and passed on through generations, all wrapped carefully within a thick bundle of trade secrets. There’s also the will to never stop creating and crafting – both for Majian and his grandfather.
“He still comes to the shop regularly,” laughs Majian. “And once he sits down at a bench, we can’t get him to leave. If he picks up a tool then he’ll be there for five hours.”
