Ihada brass and silver butter knife (189mm x 16mm) – not shown

Hand sand-cast brass and silver cutlery from a foundry founded in 1897 in the Japanese city of Takaoka in the Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Created by Oji Masanori who has worked alongside the foundry's artisans turning centuries old skills and traditions to the production of a series of modern ‘livingware’. Whilst the heads of this distinctive set are finely ground and silver plated for a better taste and feel in the mouth, the handles are left ihada - in their skin, meaning they purposefully retain their raw cast surface and any texture or discolouration derived from the sand into which they were poured. Formally occidental there remains to these tools some subtle recollection of Japan, perhaps from the marriage of brass and silver, or the delicacy with which they rest upon the hand, lending a precision to their use undoubtedly akin to chopsticks. Forks and spoons come in three sizes, the knife only one. These are special order items with a lead time of between eight and twelve weeks.