Meet the Maker: Elias Sideris
September 9, 2026 – Marco Antoniolli
Elias Sideris is a bladesmith and toolmaker based in Oakland, California, where he works full-time as the lead of the Bernal Cutlery knife-making operation and also makes his own knives under the Astral Works brand.
Originally from New England, Elias was introduced to knife making in college, spent time traveling and learning from other bladesmiths, and has built a career working in a wide variety of shops among many skilled craftspeople. Elias’s maker’s mark is Astral Works, and we are proud and honored to have such talent with Elias heading the knife-making production management at Bernal Cutlery’s manufactory project at 69 Duboce. We are equally pleased to represent Astral Works at our counter.
Elias crafts tools, knives, and hardware using forging, machining, and manual hand-and-eye benchwork. His journey began at Hampshire College in 2010, where he studied metalwork and its spiritual aspects in pre-industrial eras. After years of travel and study in workshops across New England, California, and Europe, he established Astral Works in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from 2016 to 2019, before relocating to Oakland.
In 2016, he opened his first workshop in Greenfield, Massachusetts, the crucible of American cutlery manufacturing. He developed a strong passion for the history and legacy of manufacturing, based on his craft’s ties to local heritage. In 2019, he moved to Oakland and dove deeper into making and manufacturing.
Elias has 15 years of experience working in bladesmithing as well as architectural metalworking and precision machining. In 2023, we brought him to Europe and Japan to witness and research many functioning cutlery manufacturing facilities and to speak with the craftspeople working there. Later that year, he developed a comprehensive production process for our first scaled knife production, leveraging his extensive knowledge of optimal fabrication methods and a diverse network of makers, both local and nationwide.
We are excited to be working with Elias to open the next chapter of Bernal Cutlery and are equally pleased to represent Astral Works at our counter whenever they become available.
Knives by Elias:
