1-on-1: Ryan Edwards

It’s always interesting to hear how someone got to where they are. What’s even more interesting is when it’s not exactly what you may have expected. These are the conversations that I love having with people, and while my conversation with Ryan Edward’s wasn’t face to face, it’s still a pretty cool story and one I’m glad to share.

Born in Hamilton Ontario Canada and moving to Caledonia Ontario at a young age, where he still resides, Ryan’s interest in Magic grew with a friends magic set. Performing for friends and family he was able to talk his parents into getting him a magic set of his own. Like many young magicians, David Copperfield specials and local magic shops became staples in his everyday life. On a trip to Canada’s Wonderland, Ryan visited Browsers Den, a magic shop, where he saw a magician use a Svengali deck for the 1st time and purchased one on the spot. In time, and having the same audience, the deck had run its course, but a friend had shown him a card trick you could perform with a regular deck. This motivated Ryan to pick up a few books and start to really work on his craft. About this time a street magician by the name of David Blaine had broadcast his Street Magic special, making magic the entire buzz not only among magicians but regular people everywhere. Capitalizing on the attention street magic was getting Ryan began performing at school on a regular basis….how good was he, well, some teachers were actually giving him time at the end of classes to perform for his classmates

As a young man he continued to work on his magic and to earn some income also worked for a landscaping company along with doing some construction work, “I’ve always loved creating things and seeing the finished out come... that’s why I did construction and landscaping for a while, just because I loved seeing something ugly become beautiful when we were done working!”. With some encouragement from his boss to take his magic to a larger audience, Ryan started performing in restaurants, all the while coming up with his own new routines, gimmicks and gaffs. This tinkering took Ryan to a new job working for a friend, Ryan Joyce, as an Illusion engineer back stage during performances, insuring everything was as it needed to be and set up just right, but more importantly gaining some more knowledge in the art of magic and performing.

When Ryan went off to attended college he performed every month at a coffee house. Being on a small campus, he also became very well known for his magic and was asked to perform on a steady basis. This popularity landed him a job as the host of “Most Requested” a music video program in which Ryan also performed street magic in between videos. This opportunity also opened the door for the next step in his career….set design, which also continued to feed his love of creating thing

After that Ryan began to frequent magic shops in Toronto, getting to know other magician and also helping them with gimmicks and routines while enjoying the same help in return. It was during this time that Ryan met Peter McKinnon. Peter turned out to be the “Nudge” Ryan was needing. Urging him to attend magic conventions and meeting people in the industry, while getting his name out there for others to remember. With his usual desire to create, Ryan had been working on some card clips for himself and some close friends. Last year when he attended Magic Live he had brought the clips along to show some new friends and the reaction was very positive. “…everyone kept asking where they could buy them and I kept saying they are not for sale” By the end of the weekend he had so many requests for his card clips that it just seemed like all the signals where there to bring his products to the masses, something Peter McKinnon had urged him to do quite often.

All the creative people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting seem to share a common thread in the support they received from varying sources. Ryan’s constant support not only in his magic, but also in nurturing his creativity came from 3 very important people in his life. His Mother, his Grandmother and his Father, who was always a willing spectator to Ryan’s magic until his passing in 2010. “…he always wanted to see tricks all the time and I wish he was here to see me today!”

The time I spent learning more and more about Ryan Edwards’s one thing seemed to be consistent…his passion for what he does. R.E Hand Crafted truly is a labor of love for a very talented and creative mind. Ryan’s Card Clips have become so popular he’s made some very unique pieces for some of the biggest names in the industry. And this just echoes his drive to create something very personal and original for every one of his customers. I use customers for lack of a better word, because it seems like people become friends more so than customers when working with Ryan. It’s not very common now a day to find someone who’s willing to give you his personal cell number to make sure you get exactly what you’re  looking for, but that’s just another thing that speaks volumes about Ryan and his commitment to detail. There have been many Card Clips on the market, but Ryan’s creations truly push the envelope of creativity and his use of the “Not so Common” materials to create them, produces some amazing one of a kind works of art.

So with this great story, I wanted to also take the opportunity to ask a few questions of our friend Ryan Edward’s.

 It seems you were a bit hesitant to bring your Card Clips to the masses, why?
I was hesitant to release my clips to the general public because I wasn't sure if I was ready to, in terms of offering people whatever they wanted and I wasn't sure what people would think of them. I guess it's one of those things where you love your product and you just want others to love it too! So I wanted to get people’s feelings on them before jumping full in.

What motivated you to pursue the different skins and textures you use in your
Card Clips?
I decided to bring out a bunch of different leathers, skins and textures because I wanted everyone that bought a clip to be able to get what suited them and that matched their character or personality! That’s why I offer as many colors as possible, and do all sorts of custom orders! :)

You take a very personal approach to your business, what do you enjoy most about that aspect?
I absolutely love having the personal approach to my business because I like hearing the person’s dream of their clip and then going and seeing it all the way through! And I have always thought customer service is number one! I thought if people could get in touch with me at any time, it would be the best policy! I hate calling a company and listening to a machine... People want to talk to people so I basically tried to take everything I disliked about customer service and do the 180 of that! :)

What’s in store for R.E Hand Crafted in 2014?
2014 is going to be a massive year for RE! There’s a ton in the works! I don't want to give too much away but let's just say there will soon be some other custom designs that aren't clips... And maybe a deck or two...

Do you still enjoy magic and do you still perform?
And yes I still love magic and still perform! :) I just had a big show a week ago. I do close up magic and then have my own stand up mentalism show!

I want to thank you so much for your time and being nice enough to share with me and your fans. Do you have any final thoughts or comments?
I would love to thank everyone who has supported and believed in RE Hand Crafted and without your support none of this would be possible!

I want to give a huge thank you to Ryan for taking the time to share his story and I truly hope I get the opportunity to meet him in person someday.

You can check out Ryan’s products at www.rehandcrafted.com as well as follow him on Facebook at rehandcrafted to keep up to date on his latest creations.

This exclusive 1-on-1 is written by Anthony Ingrassia for kardify. No part of this article can be reproduced without written permission from the author. You can check out Anthony's awesome collection at sparkzcollector.