Most knife shops show you the finished knife. At our new store in Gion, you can also see where the work happens. The FE Kyoto Gion store is open. Inside the shop, there is a lab behind a glass wall, and it is the part of the store we most want you to see. Here is what you will find there, and why we chose Gion.
A lab you can see through
The most distinctive feature of the Gion store is a glass-enclosed lab space inside the shop. It is not an interior designed to look like a research lab. It is a place where our staff actually carry out work and testing, and you can watch it happen through the glass.
We built it this way because transparency is one of the central ideas behind FE. Words like sharp and high performance are easy to say, and hard to check. A finished knife can only tell you so much, so we would rather show you how it is made and how it performs.
Sharpness is a good example. It is difficult to judge by feel alone. In the Gion lab, sharpness is measured with a special machine, so the result appears as a number instead of an adjective. A number does not tell you everything, and we will be honest about what it can and cannot say. But it is a clearer starting point than a promise.
Choose your own knife, in person
At the Gion store, you can build your knife from separate parts. You choose the blade shape and the handle, then combine them for the way you cook and the look you like. The goal is a knife that suits your hand and your cooking, not only your eye.
Online, you can see a knife. In the store, you can hold it: feel the weight, the texture of the blade, and how each handle sits in your hand. That part is hard to convey on a screen.
To see how shapes, sizes, and handles work together, read [How to Build a Custom Kitchen Knife at FE] and [What Kitchen Knife Size Should You Choose?]
ZAKU, our first original series
You will also find ZAKU here, FE’s first original series. It has a rugged, unpretentious, modern design, with a distinctive texture inspired by meteorites, and it looks and feels unlike a conventional knife. Meteoritic iron is one of the sources of inspiration behind FE, and Jack talks about it in his interview.
Why Gion?
Gion is one of Kyoto’s best-known districts. Its traditional wooden buildings and stone-paved streets have been preserved, and it welcomes visitors from Japan and from abroad. It is a place where traditional culture thrives.
That is exactly why we wanted to be here. FE does not try to copy tradition as it is. We admire it and respect it, but we do not treat it as untouchable. We combine the Japanese philosophy of craftsmanship with techniques from around the world, modern materials, and new designs to offer a different kind of value in a kitchen knife. Gion felt like the right place to show that.
If you are planning to visit Kyoto, stop by, hold a few knives, and see the lab for yourself. To learn more about FE, start with this article →[What is FE? A Knife Built Around Choice].
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