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Peter Buchanan-Smith (born April 7, 1972, in Canada) is an American designer, teacher, entrepreneur, and the founder of premium menswear label Best Made Co..
Buchanan-Smith was born in April 1972 in Canada. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the MFA Designer as Author program and received his master's degree in 2001. His M.F.A. thesis in graphic design was developed into a book published in 2001 by Princeton Architectural Press entitled Speck: A Curious Collection of Uncommon Things.
After finishing his education, Buchanan-Smith worked at The New York Times, as the art director of the Op-Ed page for September 11, 2001. From 2005 to 2008, he served as the creative director for Paper magazine.
Buchanan-Smith has been the design director for Isaac Mizrahi's fashion house and has collaborated with Israeli-born American illustrator/designer Maira Kalman, with whom he designed the illustrated re-issue of Strunk & White's classic grammar text, The Elements of Style. In 2005, he won a Grammy for the design of Wilco's best-selling album A Ghost is Born.
In 2009, he founded Best Made Co., initially producing artisanal tools and adventure products in South Orange, New Jersey. The brand's first product was a collection of functional axes with colorful yet clean-cut "high-quality graffiti paint" designs on the hickory handles. The axes have been exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery in London and also have been acquired by foresters and collectors (including David Lynch.) Following the success of its initial products, the brand quickly gained recognition as an "ax company".
In 2017, Best Made was acquired by Bolt Threads—a California-based bio-materials startup—with the goal of using Best Made as a proving ground for Bolt's sustainable fibers, like Microsilk.
He left the company in 2019. In October 2020, Duluth Trading Co. acquired Best Made Co. Today, Best Made's products—clothing, knives, axes, cookware, etc.—are available on Duluth's website at duluthtrading.com/best-made.