On the Roam

Look at the bridge.

Whoa...

Are we gonna play here, Papa?

Why don't we go ask the director?

- Hey, how are ya? - Good.

- -

For two decades now...

I've been a story teller.

This journey as led me to meet incredible artists and craftsmen all over the world.

Every characters is an opportunity

and a privilege to build a story alongside these artists.

I am going to venture out some of my favorite artists and craftsmen

to discover what inspires them.

I'm going to enlist them

to build custom, one-of-a-kind pieces for stories I'm telling.

["Wherever I May Roam" playing]

Growing up, I used to always be introduced as

Riki's son and it used to drive me nuts.

And I told my dad when I was little

one day nobody will know you except for Neil's dad.

I just always had that weird like drive.

My great-grandfather,

he was the first blacksmith that was shipping his K knives

to other islands to the pineapple plantations to many different places.

And he ended up opening a blacksmith shop in Hilo.

It was there like from 1932 to when he died in 1990

he was the last living blacksmith in Hawaii.

And when I was born, they named me Neil Teiji Kamimura

which is after the blacksmith and so I always kinda carried that weight.

This is a... rep. That is the...

replica sign of my great grandfather's original sign in Hilo.

Wow.

My buddy had made it for me

off of a photo that was in the newspaper article.

Made for first season and second season,

made my finale swords.

We turn them into rubbers.

And that I going do all the damage that I do, right?

You make the snake skin ones, Uncle?

Yeah.

That's so cool.

That's my prized possession.

I can make real knives. I can't make this.

Right. I can't, man.

The soft flimsy one?

-No, I can't make that. - I can't make that.

Jason DM me through Instagram and asked me I could make a sword in 48 hours

and bring it up on Mauna Kea. And I did it.

I needed something very quick.

And I put it out there to him. It was like the total Hail Mary.

Like I need this knife now. It needs to look like this. Can you pull it off?

And this guy just like, you know, I don't know,

48 hours bangs this thing out.

Shows up on Mauna Kea with it. I'm like "It's perfect." And it's what I use in a,

in See for the finale.

It was a beautiful thing and through that I just kinda like try to have friends,

each character I play, I just move to another artist.

And we uh, build stuff together.

When we start a movie,

you know I'll have wardrobe department, the props department

and you get to see these best of the best.

I love that. It's my favorite department. That and props I love.

Finding these unique pieces helps me form a character.

And I love that process.

But it is even more meaningful to have them handcrafted by some of my closest friends.

Neil and I both have multi-generational roots in Hawaii.

And that definitely influences our eye and the way we look at art.

Being born in Hawaii and raised in Iowa, I definitely

most of life wanted to get back to Hawaii,

even though I have strong foundation in Iowa.

I feel like if you're rooted in like craftsmanship in the first place,

your grandparents, your grandpa and your uncles

and they're all like work with their hands.

You know my mother's so heavy into antiques and photography

and all my uncles and my grandfather are musicians.

The things that I ended up liking kind of got me out of my own path.

Climbing and skateboarding all these things kinda gave birth

to you know, me always constantly me being wanting to get out

and journey to different places, so um...

Hence the name On the Roam.

- How's it going, dude? -Welcome to Texas.

All right.

-My Man! Holy shit! -How many fucking years does it take to see you again?

Along my journey to build these custom pieces,

I went to Texas to see my friend Richard Baggett.

An extremely skilled knife and jewelry maker.

Yeah!

I want to soak in as much as I can from him about his process

and where he finds his inspiration.

Oh, the sun is just gonna set right here, bro?

-It sets right here, doesn't it? - Yeah.

Wow, man. It's beautiful.

And this all inspired by Navajo jewelry.

But I'm not a Navajo nor would I ever claim

-my jewelry is Navajo. - Yeah.

I just try to put the Old West

sort of mountain-man feel on everything.

Brah, that's beautiful.

This is important.

Tomolo Tomahawk's on the back, and these are from friends,

pieces I've collected.

I'm trying to remember how was it that I contacted you?

That was from Chopper Supply Co.

Yeah.

-And I guess you met Kenny and you met Justin. -Yeah.

And somebody said my name. And I get a telephone call.

It was like. "Hey, dude."

"Holy shit, what's-up man?"

Can you make something for me? I was like, "Okay."

There are lot of those phone calls and there's probably

a lot of stories about me.

Where you get a phone call going, "Hey, Jason Momoa.

Uh, I really love your stuff.

Could you do this do this do this? But I need it in six hours."

Ever since that first call with Richard,

we've had a creative partnership and a bond between us that's still going strong.

These are ones that I've made over the past two years.

-Yeah. -I've got as my first year for being sober.

-Yeah. -I made this for my two year anniversary.

Oh bro, that's a hand work man.

I have so much to learn from him.

He has this incredible wealth of knowledge and he's so enthusiastic about sharing it.

She fought alongside Geronimo

she could feel it in her hands where the enemy was.

-Really? -So she's known like a medicine woman too.

-She'd feel it in her hands? -Yeah.

-I'm gonna use that. -Good.

I love all that, cause I love taking that and putting it in the characters man.

I still make knives and everything.

-Yeah. -But I'm trying to learn some new things.

This is my...

Oh, Man!

This is my silver studio.

Richard and I share that eye for the imperfect.

We just see the things the same way.

And we're drawn to the same style.

Yep.

I try to keep a real personal, very personal

relationship with the client.

I mean as much as you can being over the internet but...

Uh, so they feel like they're really investing in

something I really cared about.

And I had them in mind while I was making it.

And I can't tell you how much that means to somebody.

Just watching him slowly form a stone or scrap of metal

into some beautiful piece only he could have made.

There you go.

My mom really really collects a lot of old antiques

and she used to take me antiquing and I would be like, "Uh, that's annoying!"

Then I started to see like these whole vintage bell jars

and I'd see these old vintage spoon

and I just like, it's been so read into me to uh see these things

and see the patina and what it's been through

you know, nature's effects

on man-made things it was very instilled into me at a young age.

All that black, hopefully it'll weather in really nice.

-It just looks like its been around for a while. -Right?

And that's why, I get a kick out for that.

It's beautiful. Look at that, aw!

And you know what? To be honest with you,

being involved with you and doing stuff. It has affected my art,

because I didn't realize that I liked the way you

liked things that were beat up and I didn't realize that.

That that's okay that everything that I thought was cool and rustic and

is loved by other people. Which gives me even more

you know fuel to keep doing things the way I do 'em.

I discovered Wabi-Sabi, it's a Japanese philosophy of like

imperfection, perfection and what is the definition of perfection is that you know,

spring in it's blossoming is it the perfect flower in summer.

And so when I look at something that's a wallet or a pair of pants or something

there's just this style that you just go and I don't know I just had it.

As long as I keep my eyes open and look at all the overlooked details of life

I just see so many gorgeous things and it makes me happy.

The thing is really uh, I give a lot of credit to my mother

and how she saw the world.

I kind of now have become this

you know, appreciate all these things and then can use it to make my art.

There are artists that you've worked with

-and then we all get to know each other. -Yeah.

You know, we kind a build this bond and a support system

for each other and we're always there and it makes...

It makes it so enjoyable to know that there's a community.

The things that I do, whether it is a painting,

like a set of jewelry or metal or whatever,

is that I try to bring my own

art, my own style to it. So when you look at it,

-"Okay, that is Richard Baggett." -That's true.

You know what I mean? And it may not be the best or the most beautiful,

but by God, it's something I made

with everything that's in me, at the best of my ability

-at the time you got it from me. -Yeah.

So every piece is a piece of my journey.

Richard and I have collaborated on weapons for

previous shows and movies.