Designers: Henry Haneda, Greg Higgins, and Chris Leneweaver, Archistrial Design, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Manufacturer: Archistrial Design, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, Japan
The BIONOMICS Chef Knife Project aims to improve as much as possible the physical damage at work of many chefs involved in cooking. A leader of Henry Haneda who has produced very long research and many achievements in this field, this is a kitchen knife project by US and Japanese international teams who have many experiences and experience in kitchen work.
A kitchen knife is a combination of a cutting edge and a grip for holding by hand, and thousands of shapes have been made in the past. When cutting food materials with such a knife, the grips of many kitchen knives are strongly bent at the wrist joints that hold the kitchen knife when held in a straight line with the blade. The result is a large bending angle at the wrist joints.
The degree of bending is higher for a tall person, and if the person continues working for a long time, a part of the cartilage in the wrist joint is worn, causing pain and becoming inoperable.
Working in such an unnaturally crooked state causes many injuries, and it is also forced to take an unnatural posture, which causes not only arms but also back pain. There are many chefs who have had surgery for spinal injuries.
The products we developed that won the Good Design Award in 2016 and 2017 have had a great effect because the knives that improve them are straight (without bent) at the wrist joints.
However, the standard way of holding a knife in the world is a method in which the blade is strongly held between the index finger and the thumb, and the hand is twisted about 90 degrees so that the back of the hand is used upward.
Our unique grips are palmed to ensure a very stable holding position and secure position with the little finger, improving work over time. However, it still could not be resolved to use the wrist in a twisted state. However, designing most an easy-to-hold design with the side of the back of the hand that minimizes the burden on the hands and arms has many unresolved issues and its completion has been a long trial and error process. The solution is a side palm retention system with an ideal shape for the ideal grip, and a shape that can be accommodated in both upper palm retention with pinching grips that most chefs are used to It is this kitchen knife that succeeded in producing.
