The IO Shen Maoui Deba – the story behind the blade

Earlier this year Harts of Stur were honoured to sponsor the Kitchenware Innovation Award at the Housewares Innovation Awards 2017. The awards were presented by celebrity chefs The Hairy Bikers and held at the National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham. From a group of eight worthy finalists the overall winner was the IO Shen Maoui Deba knife. Not only is this knife a thing of beauty, the judges were particularly impressed with the back story of how the knife was designed and developed. We thought it was a great story too and wanted to share it with you, so we asked Natalie from IO Shen to tell it in her own words in this guest blog. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]Natalie from IO Shen receiving her award from Harts of Stur MD Philip Hart and The Hairy Bikers[/caption]

Once upon a time...

The story starts back in 2014 when I received samples of the Khay Dee Deba. An Oriental utility knife I had designed with mainly home cooks in mind. It’s a gorgeous, dinky little number and I adored it the minute I put pen to paper – let alone held the first sample in my hand! However, IO Shen has a massive chef following. So, in addition to sending out samples to retailers and home economists, some samples went out to chefs who I respect and trust and who are brutally honest! One of those was Chef Karim Maoui. After about 6 weeks of testing, he rang me up and gave me his opinion on the Khay Dee Deba. It started out with "I like it but…" My heart sank! Everyone else had been raving about this blade. What he actually went on to do was describe his ideal knife and what he would have done if he were to design a blade. What Karim didn’t know was that I was writing all of his ideas down. The more I listened to him, the more I knew this knife had potential.

The IO Shen Maoui Deba is born

Designing a knife is not easy – not at all. There are so many factors at work; handle, balance, shape, design, length, tip, curve... the list goes on! However, instinctively I knew this was a knife worth pursuing. Two weeks later, the knife Karim had described to me on the phone had manifested itself into a schematical drawing and I emailed it over to him. Shortly followed by a phone call with him shouting "That’s IT!!  THAT’S THE KNIFE!!" [caption id="" align="alignright" width="200"]Chef Karim Maoui - the man behind the knife[/caption]

The big day

The day the samples of the IO Shen Maoui Deba arrived in the country is one I will never ever forget. I'm not going to lie to you, I actually teared up!! The knife was perfection with a handle. I was so excited I nearly got in the car and drove the 200 miles to Karim to give it to him the same day. The second I picked up the knife I knew it was perfect. It just felt right! The balance, the way the knife instinctively tells you how to use it and the blade was SO SHARP!! Testers of the IO Shen Maoui Deba completely fell in love with it. Chef Wayne Sullivan said it was "the most instinctive knife in the IO Shen range" whilst 2 Michelin Starred Chef Daniel Clifford hailed it as "a dream in the hand". Designing the packaging was equally as fun. As it was the first knife designed by a chef, my designer Julie from Jamtastic Design and I had carte blanche to do whatever we wanted! We even have a picture of Karim on the box (which he hates of course, but we loved it, so had to overrule!) All in all, this experience for both Karim and I has been incredible. To share a design journey with someone outside of the company who is as passionate about IO Shen as you are, is quite emotional. He’s now my closest confident and a friend for life! His new knife – the Niku Boning Knife is due for launch Summer 2017. Watch this space! Click here to see the full range of IO Shen knives on our website. Knife photography by www.RichardBudd.co.uk (C) 2017