Stielow's D-pad

Designed to evoke the d-pad (pendant), start/select (chain), and A/B buttons (jump rings) commonly seen on early home consoles and portable gaming systems, this piece is a love letter to both the history of gaming and traditional blacksmithing alike. The d-pad is hand-forged using a technique known as split forging, an ancient technique commonly used to make crucifixes. In the 1970’s, around the time video gaming was getting its start, a blacksmith named Christoph Friedrich unearthed one of these crucifixes, and began demonstrating the technique to others. Many still call the technique Cristoph’s Cross. Now, designer Malcolm Stielow has brought a modern twist to this medieval method. Drawing on his love for gaming and making it out of titanium, he jokingly called this piece Stielow’s D-pad as a play on the technique’s lineage, and the name stuck.