Presenting the unique and beautifully crafted Florentine Kitchen Knives.
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With a reputation for being one of the most unique and sought after knife brands in the industry, Florentine Kitchen Knives (FKK) makes cutlery in a sleek and contemporary design, leaving their fans paying hundreds of euros for the knives which have a waiting list of up to a year.
But now FKK opens a grand atelier and storefront in Barcelona to meet the world’s heavy demand, being the brainchild of Tomer Botner and began with him working in hospitality to pay his way through product engineering and design school in Tel Aviv, Israel.
He saw the growing interest in cooking all over the world, especially in TV-shows and social media, so he decided to focus his final thesis on something that has to do with the kitchen.
He wanted a tool and not a complicated machine because he wanted to be able to make it himself with the 8 months he had to finish the project.
Above: F3 Chefs Knives in stainless steel with different handles. Below: It’s a family thing – Tomer, his wife and business partner Noam and their 2-year old youngster Lev outside the new workshop, just around the corner from Dos Palillos in the Raval-quarter of Barcelona.
Tomer decided to document the whole process on his social media accounts, which led to him being noticed by a then relatively new company called Instagram, who picked up the pictures and posted them on their official blog only a few weeks after Tomer graduated.
After that the ball kept rolling and today the client list consists of some very impressive names and places in the culinary industry such as The Jane in Antwerp, Mr. Porter (W Hotel) Amsterdam, The Four Seasons in Kuwait and the Waldorf Astoria in Bangkok to but name a few across the globe.
Top to bottom: Nakiri knife made for and in collaboration with Nick Brill of 2*Michelin The Jane in Antwerp, followed by F3 Chef Carbon Steel with Mixed Wood and the F2 Paring Knife.
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What makes the Florentine Kitchen Knives stand out from the rest is their form and the way they look. The design of each knife is very unique, while it still ticks all the boxes of being a practical high-quality tool.
And since the majority of sales are made online, the customers don’t have the chance to actually touch and feel the product before purchase, proving just how important the design actually is.
“This is our 6th year and the 5th model we are doing. We started out with 100 knives made from a single model and in 2017 we made around 3000 knives from different models, including steak knives, chef knives and bread knives. With the current design we are going to launch 3 different models, but with the deviations in design it ends up being 12 different variations”, Tomer explains and adds that for each new model he discontinues the old ones;
“The batches of knives usually sell pretty fast and then comes the feedback and we get to spend a little more time with them and figure out what we can do even better for the next ones. At the end of the day, that’s why we do what we do; to get better all the time and be the best we can be.”
The Botner-Blumenthal home kitchen knife rack.
From left to right (after the black shank, a gift from Cut Brooklyn)
1. Butter knife created for Martin Bauer. 2. The F2 paring knife. 3. The steak knife mixed woods. 4. The Zedek Nakiri from the Hometown Set. 5. The F1 8” Chef 6. The F2 9” Chef first prototype 7. The F2 9” Chef mixed woods. 8. The Jewish museum challah knife gen1.
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Up until now the process of making the knives has been long, especially when it comes to creating custom made knives for restaurants. When a restaurant commissions him, Tomer will usually visit the restaurant in question, have dinner there and have several conversations with the management and chefs so they are all clear on the vision for the finished product.
This is a process that easily can take 3-6 months whether it’s yearly models or a custom-made knife for a restaurant. The waiting time from purchasing the product to receiving it could sometimes be as long as 12 months, though that timeframe now vastly will decrease as a results of the new grand workshop in the Ravel-quarter of Barcelona.
Add to this that Florentine Kitchen Knives also offers “off the shelf” knives too that you can buy online. In fact do yourself today’s favour and feast your eyes upon an incredible beautiful craftsmanship at FKK’s official website, made by a knife maker so dedicated that he has “handmade” tattooed below his knuckles.
Tomer Botner doesn’t kid around.
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This upcoming Monday, July 2nd Florentine Kitchen Knives will host an opening reception of its new workshop and showroom at Notariat 7 in Raval. Should you find yourself in Barcelona at the time, feel free to reach out to attend.
Bon Vivant Communication is a culinary embassy representing star chefs and restaurants, chateaux and high-end wineries as well as working close together with various luxury hotels, gourmets festivals and bespoke concierges services.
The diplomacy speaks to a strong network of 600 journalists, bloggers and writers, as well as 3000+ luxury diners around the globe.
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Hungry for more? Dig into this in-depth article by Honest Cooking.
