Competition: win two personalised kitchen knives from Florentine Kitchen Knives
In our latest competition, we've teamed up with Florentine Kitchen Knives to offer our readers the chance to customise their own pair of culinary knives.
This competition has now closed. Congratulations to the winner, who is Fearghal Moran from London, UK.
Led by husband-and-wife duo Tomer Botner and Noam Blumenthal, made-to-order knives by Florentine Kitchen Knives (FKK) are used by Michelin-starred chefs around the world.
One reader will win the opportunity to customise one Chef knife and one Paring knife, which come with either carbon-steel or stainless steel blades and a choice of two styles of handle.
The Chef knife is an all-round kitchen implement suited to all manners of slicing. The Paring knife is used for delicate actions like peeling and garnishing.
The winner can choose between a dual-coloured "scaled" or multicolour "stacked handle" for their knives. FKK's knife handles are made from leather, stabilised wood and Micarta, a composite material of canvas and resin, commonly used in knife handles for its endurance and durability.
The Micarta colour palette includes: red, ivory, yellow, blue, orange, black and green, with the addition of pink for the stacked handles.
The scaled handle is predominantly one material with an additional stripe of colour between the blade and the scale of the handle and designed to a traditional aesthetic.
Customers can choose from the selection of the seven Micarta colourways or five stabilised woods: beech grey, poplar grey, poplar natural, beech natural and beech red.
Between the two sides, held together by polished-brass bolsters and pommels, a two-millimetre Micarta lining offers a contrasting detail.
The winner may pick one or two colours for the lining, resulting in one solid, coloured line or a different colour seen on each side.
The bolder, stacked handle is created by stacking black leather and coloured Micarta discs in an alternating pattern of up to eight colours.
Customisation in this signature, striped style from FKK sees the leather intertwined with a mix-and-match of customer-selected Micarta colours.
All knives are available with high-carbon Swedish stainless-steel blades. Alternatively, scaled knives can come fitted with French carbon-steel, whilst stacked knives can come with slightly more lightweight, high-carbon German steel.
These carbon-blade knives can be personalised further to include a leopard-style or forced-patina finish as well as the standard satin-finish. Additional processing oxidises the blade to form the dappled effect or a matte semi-protective coating.
For the final touch, the winner will also be given the option to engrave the two blades with up to 14 characters of text, including spaces.
Since establishing the company in 2012, the founders revise the collection annually as materials develop: "It ensures the constituent parts of the knives are premium and durable," explained FKK.
Originally based in Tel Aviv, the duo moved the company from Florentin – after which the company is named – to Barcelona, where they are now based in the colourful neighbourhood of Raval.
FKK's F4 range offers Chef, Paring and Table knifes, which are all made-to-order and can be purchased from the brand's recently opened store-cum-workshop in Raval or online. Florentine's new website, designed by Gymnasium Design Office, enables you to virtually build your own chef, table or paring knife using a series of rendered image options.
One winner will receive a customised Chef and Paring knife. Due to its hand-manufactured process, production time for the set can be up to 12 weeks.
Photography is by Salva López.
Competition closes 4 December 2019. One winner will be selected at random and notified by email, and his or her name will be published at the top of this page. Entrants must be over 18 years old and the winner will be asked for proof of age. Terms and conditions apply.