Takeshita Street is not the first place most people look for a kitchen knife. That is exactly why we chose it.
Our new FE store in Harajuku, Tokyo, is open. It is our first store in Tokyo, and an unusual one. We opened it together with Genery Inc., a company that builds fashion brands and characters, mainly for Gen Z. One room, two cultures: knives and fashion.
A store that does not look like a knife shop
The interior is brushed silver, cut by lines of red light. The walls are metal, the displays curve, and the stands are geometric. At the center, there is a display where you can see each knife up close: the texture of the blade, the shape of the handle, and the small details that photos miss.
Why Harajuku?
For many years, Harajuku has brought together fashion, characters, design, and food, and people come from all over the world. Not everyone walking down Takeshita Street is looking for a knife, and that is part of the point. Imagine someone stepping in from the street, picking up a blade, and starting to ask questions. What is it made of? How is it made? Why does it look like this? We built the store for those questions. And if you want to go further, you can see how a knife is customized, right there in the store.
ZAKU, our first series
The Harajuku store centers on ZAKU, FE’s first series. Its blades have a raw, rough surface, inspired by meteorites, and a polished edge. The contrast is in the design.
Harajuku is the third place to see ZAKU in person, after Kyoto and Osaka. Here, a knife is not only a cooking tool. It is also an object of design, material, and engineering. To see where the meteorite idea comes from, read an interview with our product designer Jack Tou.
Working with Genery
FE comes from the knife world. Genery comes from fashion and characters. The Harajuku store puts both in one room, so you can meet products and cultures you might not find otherwise. Alongside FE knives, the store carries LAZYSLAY, a fashion brand from Genery.
Genery creates fashion, characters, and intellectual property, mainly for Gen Z. Its brand LAFARY is built around kawaii: apparel, goods, and character collaborations. LAFARY is active on social media and has stores at SHIBUYA109 in Shibuya, on Takeshita Street in Harajuku, and at HEP FIVE in Osaka. To learn more, visit Genery.
What comes next
FE is not only about a better knife. It is about bringing in ideas from other fields and other countries, and letting more people take part. We will keep working with companies and creators across industries to find out what a contemporary knife can be. To learn more about FE, read our material What is FE? A Knife Built Around Choice.
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