Obviously a talented maker, but that axe is too fancy for my simple tastes.
I admire the workmanship involved in producing something like that but, to my mind at least, it isn't 'pretty'. I am a great believer in beauty of form following function and I don't thing that it ticks that box. I have similar thoughts about knives with knobbly handles or wildly extravagant pommels and finger guards: what is the point? Ceremonially, they may have a significance but practically - and, lest we forget, we are talking about a tool here - they just don't do it for me. Clean design yields a good, usable tool; it may never be 'pretty' per se but it might be 'handsome'.
Please bear in mind that this is a personal point of view, not written to shoot down anyone in flames - just the expression of my own opinion.
I do agree with you about the function of something effectively causing the design.
But..
I never saw this axe as something used for woodcraft personally, I see the design as one to be used in a different way to our limited uses for an axe. I think the job for this axe is to impress others, to give them the impression that the owner has wealth enough to lavish money on more than the necessary things in life. This might seem silly but I think it perfectly executes that design brief and in that context, the design does follow the function. I'm probably wrong though, it's probably for billionaires to make feathersticks with after all.
I do agree with you about the function of something effectively causing the design.
But..
I never saw this axe as something used for woodcraft personally, I see the design as one to be used in a different way to our limited uses for an axe. I think the job for this axe is to impress others, to give them the impression that the owner has wealth enough to lavish money on more than the necessary things in life. This might seem silly but I think it perfectly executes that design brief and in that context, the design does follow the function. I'm probably wrong though, it's probably for billionaires to make feathersticks with after all.