Spotlight #7: Aerocrafted

Urban EDC Spotlight is an original, exclusive content series highlighting those who are making an impact through notable creative work in their field.

This a sponsored post. This conversation is between Matt Martinez (MM), Partnership Manager at Urban EDC Supply, and Sam Castenholz (SC), Aerospace Design and Fabrication Consultant for Aerocrafted.

We have a new Spotlight for you this week, Aerocrafted! Sam Castenholz took a break from making incredible EDC gear and from his 1968 Porsche 912 restoration project, to talk to us about Aerocrafted.

MM: For people who are new to Aerocrafted, give us the 10,000-foot overview. Excuse the pun.

SC: Aerocrafted is a small team of aerospace engineers, fabricators, and pilots with a passion for aviation and adventure. We live and work on the Central Coast of California. It all began when we couldn’t find an EDC utility knife that met our requirements, so we decided to design and make it ourselves. What started as a fun side project soon became a vision for a full line of intentionally designed everyday carry tools. Alongside turning our vision into reality, we still enjoy honing our engineering skills on cutting-edge aerospace projects.

MM: Your designs look sleek and very meticulously crafted. Can you give us an idea of some obstacles you've encountered along the way?

SC: We enjoy challenging ourselves to come up with creative manufacturing solutions that we haven't seen elsewhere. When we designed our Contrail Pocket Pen, we ran into an obstacle where we had some wear occurring on the inside of the titanium cap. To solve this, we developed a proprietary laser heat-treating process to harden the surface of the titanium which solved the problem.

MM: Why should folks choose to carry Aerocrafted?

SC: If you choose to integrate Aerocrated gear in your EDC system, you'll be supporting US manufacturing and getting purpose-built gear that simply works.

MM: Are there any new products you're working on, that you can give us an early look into?

SC: We're always sketching new concepts for products that we want to carry. As far as in-the-works designs go, we're dialing in the finishing touches on a minimal titanium bottle opener and we're just getting into the proof-of-concept prototyping stage of a rather unique titanium carabiner.

MM: Where do you see the future of everyday carry headed?

SC: The EDC world, like aerospace, is interesting in that it's very much a blend of heritage design and cutting-edge technology. The vision that we're working to create is leveraging modern manufacturing processes to bring the absolute best products to market at reasonable price points.

MM: What about Aerocrafted sets you apart in your product designs?

SC: We strive to create designs that are as mechanically simple as possible. An example of this is that we try to avoid using unnecessary fasteners or O-rings and instead rely on clever geometries to create interlocking designs. This philosophy can result in complex manufacturing methods which is why we develop the manufacturing processes alongside the designs in-house.

MM: Where is the best place to stay up to date on what you have in the pipeline?

SC: You can follow us for updates on Instagram (@aerocrafted) or by signing up for email alerts (where you'll also receive a 15% off coupon code!)