Like many creatives, Helen Kerr has a deep appreciation for Japanese aesthetics – but it’s the Japanese sense of space in particular that speaks to the Toronto-based industrial designer.
‘In Canada, we are so spoilt for space. We have tons of it,’ she explains. ‘We don’t have that kind of carefulness of considering every spot and corner.’ But, she says, other locations make different demands. ‘In a tiny place – like Japan, or Singapore where I was also recently – every corner is considered. They have to. As a designer, it’s really inspiring when every moment can be a design moment.’
Kerr is the designer behind the Kanso line for Gourmet Settings, the Canadian luxury cutlery maker, and for which the award-winning Kerr has created several lines. Her hand can be seen in patterns from the Concept collection, like Kyoto with its curvaceous forms that take after wooden Japanese cutlery, and the bold and modern Lagom and mid-century-style Finn, both which nod to clean and minimal Scandinavian design.
As the name suggests, Japanese philosophies inform Kanso – and it takes its name from two principles in particular: the eponymous kanso that expresses things in a simple manner, and enso fukinsei, which refers to balance created through the asymmetry of nature. Crafted in steel, the pieces come etched with a subtle motif that recalls the outline of the Japanese Shirakaba birch forest at night, a theme that is especially poignant in the ultra-cool Kanso Black version.
Kerr, who has travelled extensively to Japan and Asia with Gourmet Settings president Hildy Abrams, says that nature was a key touchpoint. ‘Japan is a tiny place. But nature is interwoven as a really important part of being there. In Kyoto and Osaka, you don’t have to turn far before you see that,’ she says.
In many ways, luxury cutlery feels very much in sync with the Japanese emphasis on simplicity and almost obsessive attention to detail. Kerr calls cutlery a very ‘intimate object’, especially as an item that both functionally picks up food and as a piece that is placed in one’s mouth. Needless to say, the design has to be carefully considered, on so many fronts. ‘It almost ruins the food, otherwise,’ says Kerr. ‘To celebrate the food, you should have something beautiful as your implement.’
In addition to its visual appeal, the Kanso line is also a technical achievement. Gourmet Settings knives are notably made from 420-grade stainless steel for optimal sharpness and durability, while the forks and spoons use premium-grade recycled 304 stainless steel. Add the Kanso line’s delicate, etched birch motif, and there is an added sensuality, tactility and ergonomy.
‘It is important that we understand how it feels in your hand, how it feels when you bring it up to your mouth,’ says Kerr. ‘That’s based on centuries of crafting something exquisitely and making it visually appealing. It’s both parts.’
Meanwhile, travel and discovery will continue to inform Gourmet Settings, which works with different designers on its concepts. There is also Johnny Lim, who finds inspiration in unexpected places, such as an F-117 airplane for the Stealth line – all flat planes and diamond-cut geometry – and Gourmet Settings’ other visual feasts that are about making individual style statements and pushing what’s possible in cutlery. Abrams explains that travel will only galvanise this further: ‘More than anything, travelling helps me understand how people eat, what they eat with and their relationship to food,’ she says. For pre-orders of the Kanso collection launching later this year, email Tiffany@gourmetsettings.com
Ming Liu is a London-based writer who contributes to The New York Times and British Vogue
