Truly an artistic masterpiece in kitchen cutlery form, this one-of-a-kind chef knife was created by the collective efforts of bladesmith Don Carlos Andrade and artisan Bill Rice. Keeping with his uncompromising approach to meticulous craftsmanship and desire to incorporate unique and extraordinary materials into his functional objects, Don first created a handle of Sweet Gum Pods laminated in gold resin, and a blade, of profile and form inspired by French culinary history, in low-manganese 1095LM carbon steel, forged to shape entirely by hand. Once hardened, etched and polished to reveal the differential heat treatment’s beautiful hamon line, Don’s work was complete and the knife was ready for the final touch. For the last act, Don sent the knife to California artisan Bill Rice who elevated this one-of-a-kind piece to the next level by engraving a flower motif on both sides of the blade’s silky finish, adding six fine silver inlays, and ten 24-ct gold, hand-sculpted flower inlays. The finished product is nothing short of breathtaking.