Sternsteiger Achilles

Together with the company Sternsteiger Stahlwaren from Solingen, a new type of chef's knife was developed. We call it Achilles.

The history

As a design student I worked in the gastronomy and hotel industry to pay the bills. During that time, I got to know a lot of professional chefs and being a hobby chef myself we started to talk and exchanged tips and tricks.

The one thing that kept coming up during those discussions was how slippy and therefore dangerous knives get during all day use.

This discovery started my quest to find an improvement or a knife design that solves this common problem.

The idea

It took me several years to come up with an idea how this issue of losing grip can be solved. During that time, I sketched out quite a few designs, but only after joining up with Sternsteiger I came up with the final solution.

The uniquely shaped handle fits perfectly into your hand and provides the best possible grip even if your hands or the knife itself is wet.

The most prominent unique feature of Achilles is the center opening that is also important for the grip, but it serves a dual purpose. It helps to balance out the pressure while cutting or chopping by making room for your thumb or index finger.

The evolution

In order to develop the design and its ergonomics further we used modern 3D printing technology to produce prototypes for basic usability tests.

During those tests we made sure that the handle was easy to grab and that it would rest firmly in the palm of your hand. Afterwards working prototypes were made out of steel and feedback was collected from professional chefs and valued customers.

Das Result

Achilles is an outstanding and unique cooking knife, which opens a new era for knives by adapting the design of the knives to the everyday requirements.

Currently, Sternsteiger Stahlwaren is still optimizing the production of Achilles, but we will soon bring this special knife to the market.