At Home

Handheld Architecture: The Subtleties of Form and Function

Any good dinner party is punctuated by admiring murmurs of the food, the plates, the wine, the host’s temperament.


No one toasts to the flatware.


No one claps the back of the person to their right and gestures to their highly-effective salad fork, holds their teaspoon up against the light to marvel at its shape, or rubs the serrated edge of a dinner knife against the back of their hand adoringly.


So how do you improve a product no one seems to care too much about in the first place?


We measure against metrics that matter.

 

 

To start, we dug into researching the gap between formal silver and the everyday stuff. We found that the former gets a major investment and is then delegated to the back of a drawer. The latter gets minimal thought but daily use. The logic isn’t quite there.

 

What if we could create something that captured the beauty and care of formal silver, but was built to last through thrice (or more)-daily use, dishwasher cycles, and dinner parties, breakfasts for one, and straight-from-the-carton snacks? What if it was the only flatware you needed or wanted? And what if it was engineered with superior architecture that made pasta wrap better, butter spread smoother, and the simple stir of your morning coffee just that much more pleasant?


It starts with the right materials. We selected 18/10 stainless steel, made from pure steel accented with chromium and nickel in the exact quantities to maximize sheen and sturdiness. We treated it with a unique polishing process to make sure that initial gleam would last – and fight against rust and stains for years to come.

 

 

 

We put it work in Italy’s finest factory, creating models that didn’t stick to strict guidelines for contemporary or traditional styles. Instead we focused on timeless shapes and details that would work in any home, and would be ergonomic for every hand, including the lefties, fine-boned, and large paw’ed among us.


The details are slight – an ever-so-carefully arched slope for your thumb that ensures a solid grip without having to squeeze. The mouth of the spoon has a teardrop-esqure shape that makes it dig efficiently into a tightly-packed pint of ice cream; the thickened edges hold in steaming, glistening broth without any worry of a spill.

 

 

 

Fork tines extend to pointed ends well-crafted to pierce into juicy cuts of meat or grab onto delicate steamed greens; the weight is distributed so it feels like you’re hardly lifting a thing as you raise each bite to your mouth. It’s a similar feeling with the knife – a thicker handle may appear to offset the balance, but only adds leverage as you slice into baked potato or slide on a thick pat of butter.


Does beautifully-crafted flatware make food taste better? We can’t promise. But we also can’t swear that a home’s architecture doesn’t enhance the positive feelings you experience there. And while there are no magazines or awards devoted to tabletop architecture, it’s one of our favorite types.

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Cheese Knives

$35
Cheese Knives
$35 (3 Pieces)

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Flatware Settings

$55
Flatware Settings
$55 (5 Pieces)

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Serving Set

$60
Serving Set
$60 (2 Pieces)

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Steak Knives

$70
Steak Knives
$70 (Set of 4)