These artfully designed nesting knives, are entitled “Meeting” by the artist/designer, Mia Schmallenback.  The knives are named Meeting?  Huh?  Artists are so kooky.

Anyway… they remind me a bit of Russian nesting dolls, with the distinct difference being; Russian nesting don’t slice through raw chicken and tomatoes as well as a metal blade and you can’t fill the knives with tapioca pudding like you can with Russian nesting dolls.  Trust me.

All the standard kitchen knives you’d normally find in a wooden knife block are here.  A paring knife, carving knife, chef’s knife, and a fillet knife.  And all look to be sculpted out of a single block of metal.

This set was designed around the Fibonacci sequence – and I advise you to check out that link as Fibonacci stuff can get pretty deep.  Wired magazine said, “The Fibonacci sequence, you’ll no doubt remember from school, starts with 0, 1 and continues by adding the previous two numbers together: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and so on. It can then be used to make shapes.” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah… Do you know what I remember from school Mr. Wired magazine writer?  Lunch.

via Wired Magazine | OhGizmo | iNewIdea

Buy from Chef Studio and good luck ordering unless you speak French.  At least I think that’s French.

$1499.95 — Buy from Sur La Table

As I write this post, I dig deep for the perfect word to describe this 7-piece Shun Bob Kramer Knife Set from Sur La Table. I could use beautiful, breathtaking, gorgeous, fantastic, stunning, awesome, radical, far-out, or even pulchritudinous, but the word I choose is nifty.

Nifty is an underutilized word in 2008.  I hope to bring nifty back into vogue with this post about the niftiest knife set I’ve ever laid eyes on. Sure, it’s a little spendy and you could easily opt for the $39.95 “As Seen on TV” Miracle Blade knife set, but that would be a travesty of all that is good and pure in the cooking world.

Each knife is meticulously crafted by 150 expert artisans to achieve the precise heft, balance and shape of Bob Kramer’s original design. The 3mm steel blades are composed of an SG2 core (64-66HRC) clad with true pattern-welded nickel and stainless steel Damascus for beautiful, razor-sharp and lasting edges. Gently rounded and richly grained red and black Pakkawood handles are crafted in Bob’s signature contoured shape, and mirror the curve of the palm for a wonderfully natural hand-feel. This complete collection includes the knives essential to any kitchen: 8″ chef’s knife, 10″ bread knife, 7″ santoku knife, 4¾” utility knife, 3¼” paring knife, honing steel and easel-style bamboo wood block.

$1499.95 — Buy from Sur La Table or see all the Shun Bob Kramer knives HERE.

You may also be interested in the Shun Bob Kramer Bread knife featured on Unfork a while back.

This one kinda reminds me of the paper cutters we had at Ninja School.  Lift the handle, slide in some long grass or other vegetation – like eggplant – cut into strips, then attached to our ninja jumpsuit as camouflage.  This made it easy to sneak around and take over small Japanese villages or Italian restaurants.

In this case, though, the beautiful 8” Shun Chef’s knife designed by the legendary Ken Onion, sits prominently in a bamboo knife stand making it easily accessible in the kitchen and impressive as a functional display piece. This is a great chopping knife with its nice weight, contoured handle, and perfectly curved blade.  So, if you are planning potato salad for 157 people, this is the knife for you.

$199.95 from Sur La Table

There are far less expensive bread knives on the market.  Good bread knives too.  But very few are going to be as absolutely gorgeous as this one.

Designed by famed knife artisan, Bob Kramer, this Shun bread knife features a razor sharp nickel and stainless steel Damascus blade and a richly grained red and black Pakkawood handle. Each knife is crafted by 150 expert artisans in Japan to create this stunning piece of functional art. Slicing bread at your next dinner party will surely elicit gasps from your guests.

Bring it to the office for use as your executive letter opener and you’ll finally get the respect you deserve.  But if you’re a cubical jockey and you’re using this as a letter opener, be on the lookout for an unexpected pay raise – or possibly a short visit with human resources.

$319.95 at Sur La Table or see all the Shun Bob Kramer knives HERE.