Silas Blacklow’s Trillium in Spring petty chef knife is part metallic art, part edged sculpture, and all tool. With culinary works like this, the kitchen becomes a living museum chronicling the daily use of modern renditions of humanity’s oldest and most intimate tool: the chef’s knife. Forged by hand at his Upstate New York workshop, Silas begins by crafting a one-of-a-kind bar of mosaic damascus steel. For this knife, not only is trillium carved and inlaid into the finished blade, the blade’s material itself seems to tell the story of this beautiful flowering plant common in eastern North America. Dense and complex, the steel formula of 1080 and 15n20 high-carbon alloys produces a mesmerizing effect, especially in its finished form where the layers are stretched and skewed by the curves and movement of the blade’s profile. Light and fast in the hand, the 156mm / 6.1″ cutting edge is especially thin and sharp, perfect for slicing work both in the kitchen and also tableside where guests can enjoy the object’s beauty as an extension of the dining experience. From the left side of the blade’s primary bevel a fine silver butterfly prepares for a taste of trillium nectar, a floral landscape awaiting its arrival on the damascus handle bolster’s right face. Of fine silver and copper, petals, stems, and leaves grow from a bed of textured copper with depth and personality. Completing a handle as artful and captivating as the blade, Silas sculpts gorgeous Tasmanian Blackwood into a hand-fitting form, secured by a single, peened fine silver pin.