JUX freeze-dries herbs and vegetables to hold their flavour and most of their goodness for years, against the usual fate of dried herbs, which is to taste of nothing. The brief that came out of that was simple to say and difficult to do. Put the ingredient itself into the knife.
A handle made of food does not behave. Cast a herb or a slice of red onion into resin and the edges break the surface as you grind the handle back, so you end up with rough flecks and a finish that will not last.
The fix was to pour the handle in two stages. We cast the core first, holding the ingredients just below where the surface would finally sit, then poured again, leaving around a millimetre of optically clear resin over the top. Nothing breaks through. The herbs sit a fraction below a clean, hard surface, visible and sealed.
We chose the Santoku because it suits the way JUX ingredients are used, in everything from a roast to a smoothie. It is the natural all-rounder: a little curve for those who rock the blade, a flat rear third and a clean stop for those who chop.
What JUX made possible was a handle we would never otherwise have built, one you could almost read the ingredients off.
In collaboration with JUX Herbs.