The Misen chef knife raised $25,000 on Kickstarter in one hour. (Misen)
Hands down a kitchen knife is the important import tool for any chef or homecook.
But how do you perfect a knife, something that has evolved over the millennia?
The online kitchenware company, Misen (pronounced meez-en -- as in mise en place or French for “put into place”) —says it has.
It began a Kickstarter campaign in early October, when it premiered its flagship chef knife that aims to be a high-quality, affordably priced kitchen tool that’s sold direct to the customer -- which they say slices down the hefty price tags usually associated with knives.
The Misen is designed to cut through meat bones while still able to make fine cuts. (The Misen)
In a single hour, it reached its goal $25,000. When the funding period closed Thursday morning, it raised $1,083,344 with the help of 13,116 backers.
Company co-creator Josh Moses, 24, joined forces with fellow food industry worker Omar Rada and Peter Müller, an industrial designer from Chicago to "reinvent" the kitchenware market with its line of products.
"We got interested in knives for a few reasons: An 8-inch knife is the single tool you'll use for literally everything," Moses told The Village Voice. "And it's healthier, fresher, and more affordable to do your own cooking. It's the idea we want to promote for our brand."
So what makes this knife so different?
Designed with the help of 3-D printers, the knife combines the best parts of Japanese and German knife engineering. It has a higher percentage of carbon in the blade than many of its competitors in the same class and is designed with a wider belly -- good for chopping through bones -- but has a shallow arc, which is good for fine slicing.
Misen’s knife is set to sell at about $65, as compared to its premium knife counterparts, averaging around $140 per blade.
Would you buy this knife? Let us know.
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