Choice Cuts

Kevin Kent, owner, Knifewear

by Colleen Seto

Kevin Kent’s addiction began innocently enough with an introduction to a Japanese knife maker in London, England, where Kent was sous chef at the renowned St. John restaurant. He was awed by the blades – the artistry, the hardness of the steel, the wicked sharpness. When he moved back to Calgary in 2005, where he had previously aced SAIT’s culinary program and also worked as a chef, he couldn’t find a supplier to quench his desire for Japanese steel. So he sourced contacts to import the knives and sold them out of a backpack to fellow chefs. In 2008, he left the restaurant kitchen and quietly opened Knifewear as a tiny space at the back of a grocery store. By January 2009, he relocated to a larger, brightly painted knife gallery of sorts in Inglewood, where he sells Japanese knives in-store and online, at $100 to $2,600 apiece. The self-proclaimed “chief knife nerd” is making some noise now, turning others onto Japanese steel, one slice at a time.

What’s special about Japanese knives?
Not only are they sharper [than European knives] to begin with, but they stay sharp longer. Once people try them, they realize there’s a huge difference in performance. It’s like shopping for speakers. When you listen to the speakers you can afford, they sound good. Then you go up to what you can’t quite afford. When you go back and listen to the first speakers, you’re convinced your ears will bleed.

When did you decide you could run a business selling Japanese knives?
I didn’t really. I was importing knives to sell to feed my own habit. At first, it was to other chefs; then I started getting calls from “civilians.” [laughs] I opened my 10 by 10 [foot] closet, but in 2009, I came out of the closet and opened the store. Initially, I thought only chefs would be interested, but I was wrong. Happily so.

What spurred the transition from chef to shop owner?
A chef’s life involves working noon to midnight every day. You need to unwind afterwards, but there’s not much to do at midnight, so you drink. It was kind of a rock star life, not a good dad life. I made the switch when my son was born in November 2007. I wanted to be a better dad than a chef.

How did you develop your store concept?
The only thing I knew about retail was from my own shopping experience. My vision was to have a knife mecca. I want people to be like, “Whoa!” when they come in. I want some overload factor. I don’t think people know there are hundreds of knife artisans in Japan. I want to provide real customer service and have intelligent conversations about knives. And, offer support such as sharpening and skills classes. Basically, I made it the knife shop I would want to shop in.

What can people expect?
Most people have never learned to use a knife properly. We let them try out knives and take some of the fear, mystique and misdirection out of it. They can learn how to chop like chefs on TV.

What’s been your biggest challenge?
Getting the word out. And trying to make it all work for a chef’s budget. Chefs notoriously do not make a lot of money.

So how have you done that?
There’s been a whole lot of word of mouth. People actually fall in love with their knives and run around telling others.

You offer a Cut Above the Rest Award. What is that?
One SAIT professional cooking student out of every class gets a $200 Knifewear bursary towards a good knife, to get them on their way. A knife is a chef’s number one tool. SAIT was good to me; they opened doors for me, so I like to give back.

Current Issue