About
Practika’s items are crafted in the finest traditions of the Zlatoust armourers and engravers.
The cold steel has been decorated in Zlatoust since the start of the 19th
century, when the Zlatoust weapons factory was established. Specialists from Solingen and Klingental were invited from Germany to work there.
They included Wilhelm Schaff, 
a renowned decorator of blades, and his sons. It was he who decorated the first Zlatoust blades. However the Zlatoust craftsmen then started to do this, having mastered Schaff’s techniques, but were more artistically diverse than the German masters.
The blades were liberally decorated with ornaments and fittings from old weapons, military tackle and musical instruments. They frequently depicted miniatures of mythological subjects, battles or hunting scenes. The colour schemes included yellow and gold, white and polished steel,
silver and nickel, and various shades of blue and burnished steel.
All of these aspects are characteristic of the unique style of the Zlatoust decorative weapons. They were distinctive, quite unlike the weapons crafted elsewhere.
P.P. Anosov’s use of the famous damask steel and high degree of expertise made the Zlatoust weapons renowned throughout Russia and far beyond. The weapons have been praised at numerous Russian and foreign industrial exhibitions and examples that
have survived to this day are now on show at Russia’s most important
museums as extremely valuable items which make specialists and
connoisseurs stand in awe.
The Zlatoust school lives on. Practika specializes in exclusive cold
steel and other items crafted by the best artists from three generations
of armourers. They use the same techniques as their predecessors.
Practika has received a diploma for “Faithfulness to the Traditions of Russian Blades” and the studio
is a permanent participant of Russian and international art and weapons
exhibitions. Practika has even been blessed by the Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia.
All of the items are made to order for museums in Russia, governmental
organizations, the army and navy, large firms and banks and collectors.
We use the Zlatoust steels, renowned for their hardness and durability and their plasticity
and malleability. Much use is made of damask swords made in the
studio’s own forge. Materials include brass, bronze,
mammoth tusks, deer and elk antlers, valuable woods,
leather and stone. Precious metals and precious and semi precious stones
are sometime used for the more exquisite orders.
Although blades are Practika’s main line, the studio also makes
writing instruments, paper knives, plates, trophies, vases, wine
goblets, hunting gear, walking sticks and the like.
All items are made individually, from start to finish, in strict
compliance with the artist’s scheme, and are essentially unique. Any
item can be copied at the client’s request.
But items are crafted only on receipt of a firm order, which states the
type of the requested item, its form and size, materials to be used,
design, coating and other specifications. The client will always be
able to approve of the sketches.
Each item bears the studio’s brand name, the name of the artist, and
the place and year of manufacture. The items have their own
“passports,” which contain information about the author, the date of
manufacture, the artist, the materials used, method and a short
description of the item. All items are presented in wooden or leather
cases.
Practika also helps to process documents to enable the weapons to be
taken out of Russia as examples of contemporary decorative and applied
art.