Cornish designer Kai Venus makes his Upcycled Kitchen Knives by mounting blades from used carpenter’s saws onto leftover hardwood from his own range of chopping boards.
“The high carbon spring steel used in saw blades provides a razor sharp edge, which it holds for an exceptionally long time,” explains Kai. Although the high carbon content does mean the blades must be cleaned and dried thoroughly after each use to avoid discolouring of the steel.
The ergonomic handles are made from off-cuts of the designer’s own collection of hardwood chopping boards, which he describes as “highly finished chunks of beautiful and sustainably sourced indigenous hardwood, such as ash, spalted beech, oak, sugar maple, and London plane lacewood.” Each handle (and board) is branded with a maker’s mark.
The designer, who graduated from Falmouth University in 2013 with a BA (Hons) in product design for sustainability, cites Barbara Hepworth as a key inspiration. “A visit to Barbara Hepworth’s studio and garden in St. Ives has the most impact for me,” he says. “I never come away from there without a compelling desire to pick up a mallet and chisel.”
He also credits Cornwall’s thriving creative scene as another driving force behind his work: “Living in Cornwall connects me to a creative community which both inspires me in my work and helps remind me that above all else, life and design are inseparably connected to the natural world.”
Other products from the designer maker include The Bambureau, a bureau-style desk, made of 0{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} formaldehyde bamboo ply, for an art installation by Cross Collaborations in which it serves as a receptacle for letters that visitors handwrite to their future selves; Leather Rolls designed to store and display pencils, pens and paintbrushes on the move; and Ergonomic Wood Carving Mallets, hand-turned from a single piece of timber in collaboration with a professional wood carver to perfect the ergonomic grip needed for prolonged usage.
