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For Israeli designer Tomer Botner, knives are a tool for unification instead of a weapon of conflict. Botner’s brings together a team of seventeen local suppliers and craftsmen in the Tel Aviv area for his final graduate design project at the Shenkar School of Engineering and Design. Though the local artisans are more known for their carpentry and upholstery, Botner employs their skills and expertise in fashioning a collection of kitchen knives. The design of the knives bears the curved look of a common chef’s knife and sports a forged handle, meaning that the blade and handle are cut out of a single sheet of metal. The hilt of the knife offers a canvas for color through the row of silicon discs; some styles are entirely composed of alternating earthy tones while others display mid-Eastern panache with rubies, blues, and emeralds. The blade is branded with a logo containing information about the make and blade length, and the letters of the stamp are cleverly molded into the shape of a knife hilt and blade. A gilded circle enumerates each knife’s creation as evidence of its truly custom creation. Using his interaction with Tel Aviv’s Florentine neighborhood as an example, Botner encourages small trade and business to embrace quality and community in preserving their craft.
