Lots of great knife makers out there. I have a big collections of custom knives from lots of different makers.
Others have already suggested some good makers so I will throw this out there.
At least down here where I am a lot of custom knife makers show up at gun shows. There you can go and see and touch and handle many different ones. Some are novice makers and a lot are very fine makers. You can usually sort those out between the two asking them about the making process particularly the hardening process and get a sense. I've seen some that are excellent at their own hardening process.
Anyway, you can also get a sense of what you like and don't like and things you want on your knife and all that and then go to a custom maker and be able to better tell them things you want if you don't feel comfortable with the individual's process for making their knife or just would feel better going with someone who is known in the custom business.
I've ordered a number that had a style or something else that I thought was cool or that would be great, and they were very excellent knives but turned out not to be a good fit for my XL large hands with short fat fingers, lol.