House Gift: David Mellor Provençal Carving Set

One of our favorite UK artisans, David Mellor, was known for the "voluptuous simplicity" of his cutlery designs, according to his obituary in The Guardian. Mellor, who died a little more than a year ago at age 78, studied at the Royal College of Art and in Scandinavia and was "the outstanding British flatware designer of the last century. He was also a rare example of the talented, committed craftsman technocrat-entrepreneur who knew as much about manufacturing as he did about the more superficial aspects of design." Mellor made it possible to collect his work one piece at a time (his lines are in continuous production), and his prices are not as punishing as one might expect.

Above: David Mellor’s son, Corin, is carrying on the family tradition; his first line of knives includes this high-carbon stainless-steel Carving Set with acetal resin handles, packaged in a birchwood box with a sliding lid and comprising a two-pronged fork, a medium ground sharpening steel, and a carving knife; £148 at David Mellor in the UK. In the US, the pieces can be purchased individually at Didrik’s; the David Mellor Carving Fork is $81, the David Mellor Sharpening Steel is $109, and the David Mellor Carving Knife is $79.