Fashion Forward Kitchen Knives

The Tres Beau Series by Vivront

Oct 25, 2024

This is 3Bits & Change, an email about building a service and retail business. This one was written to an AI powered Spotify list. Who knows what was on it?

The shop is located in a fashion forward part of the Minneapolis and Saint Paul metro area. Top fashion labels are represented as brand new and as resale items by multiple neighborhood shops. Customers, who know fashion, walk by our windows day in and day out.

Since before we moved to France Ave., I’ve been wondering, “How we might get more folks walking by the shop to be more comfortable walking into the knife shop.” What are all the ways we can think that we might do that?

Some of the signs currently put “kitchen shop” first and kitchen knife language second. Sometimes we say sharpening first, etc.

Here’s the story of Tres Beau, a new semi-annual kitchen knife series from Vivront.

//no.1 - AmericasMart

I’ve known of AmericasMart from various retail industry publications mentioning shows for sometime. A friend of mine texted photos of the place when he was there earlier in the year. I thought I’d go the next time I was nearby. Afterall, this place is the largest wholesale market in the world, located in downtown Atlanta. It opened in 1957, has permanent showrooms from exhibitors as well as a rotating series of tradeshows on a yearly schedule.

I had a little extra time on my way to Blade Show in June before I needed to pick up friends coming in from California and I thought I’d swing into downtown, check out the show and get back to the airport. I had 3 hours. Go.

I was struck by the scale of the Women’s Apparel show that was on that week. 14-storeys of vendors showing Fall fashions. Shoes, skirts, jewelry… everything Women’s fashion by category was all lined up. Folks were eager to talk about their Fall items. I was there to scan the place and observe. So it goes for the curious among us.

After a quick spin (use the escalators in the back for faster transit from floor to floor) I headed back to the airport. I resolved to return to the Mart in the future to see the permanent kitchen and homewares sections.

//no.2 - Designer kitchen knives?

A day later and after +8 hours of walking a completely different trade show full of many different expressions of humanity, we were sitting around a table at the rental house chatting about various kitchen knives and styles when I blurted out, “What if kitchen knives were fashionable.”

I said this to a group of four knife makers and one of the top retailers in the country.

They all kinda said… “we’ll yeah, what if?”

And I was like… “No, like the fashion colors of the season. What if there was a series of kitchen knives crafted for the seasons? What if the forecasted colors of the upcoming season were used to craft some kitchen knives before the season?

It seemed like a fun snap of insight to me. I received two replies.

The first was from the kitchen knife makers. It went like this… “Sure man. We’ll make you anything you want. Just let us know.”

The second was from the retailer, Tara Ransfer, and she said… “Yes. That’ll work. Do that. And go look for color forecasts.”

So I did. Thanks for the tip on color forecasts, Tara!

//no.3 - The first batch is in progress

After contacting a slew of handle makers and trying to better understand the basics of handle making on topics like a scale verses a block (remember, I’m a software guy and not a kitchen knife guy) we have the first season of Tres Beau by Vivront scales made up in some handle material for Fall of 2024 and Winter of 2025.

These scales were made in MN and have now been sent in small quantities to four different makers around the US. There will be ~12 kitchen knives in various shapes in this first season’s batch. Each maker has been given basic directional guidance on shapes and sizes and are working on the builds now.

We’re excited to see what comes next.

Stay tuned.

Sum

I’ll keep my eyes open for inspiration. Insights often come from a collision of divergent subject matter.

Go study things. Stay curious.

For more on the series and to sign up for updates and early access head here. We’re already in process for the Spring and Summer series of Tres Beau. Those scales and blocks will be ready in a few weeks so makers can get a jump start.

And, if you’re wondering about seasonal colors… here is one of the retail shops in our area as of last week. These are absolutely the colors of the season… forecasted years ago.

Change

We continue to build a new relationship with a non-profit working on school lunch debts nationally. They’ve built a slew of relationships with PTO presidents and schools in states where lunches are not subsidised.
The bus/road construction is to be done by Nov 14, the last day of the permit. We’ll see. I still want to know who provided a permit expiration date in middle November for a project that was scheduled to be done in September. They’re now over 50 days late.

On Your Way

My Son and I had a chance to get a meal by a river last weekend. It was by his request. We heated some water on a Jet Boil and dumped it in some backpacker packets. About half way through scarfing our bags of pasta he muttered “Why is this so good?”

Love it! And, great question.