(we)
who's behind the stones?
-
2016
the shared kitchen.
i moved into a flat with two friends.
both brought beautiful japanese knives.
after that, nothing else felt right.
-
2020
our first set.
my girlfriend (now wife) and i moved in together.
the good knives stayed with my friends.
we were left with old, dull ones.
so one of the first things we bought together was a full set of japanese knives.
-
a few years later
dull. again.
our set went dull too.
a travelling sharpener came to the village, so we gave it a try.
it just wasn't what we had hoped for.
after that, the knives stayed dull.
for a long time.
-
the diy phase
hours of grinding.
a friend had a sharpening system.
i spent hours on it.
sharp for a week, then dull again.
turns out deburring is a craft of its own.
-
christmas 2025
the gift that wasn't.
my wife wanted to give me a sharpener.
i said no.
and went looking online instead.
for a way to get knives sharpened that is easy, from home, and actually good.
there was none.
-
2026
so we built it.
a small workshop in uznach.
three tormeks with different stones, a t1 among them for deburring.
a belt grinder.
machines for polishing and etching.
a handful of japanese stones.
and a box that comes to your couch and goes back again.
over the past year, i've talked to so many people who hold on to their knives.
what i learned: people don't keep kitchen tools because they were expensive.
they keep them because they carry stories.
that made all of this even more exciting for me.
we're here to keep those stories going.
– jacques
