When you pick up a Culinario fork, you can feel it in your fingers: this cutlery was made for serious pasta-lovers. It is pleasantly heavy to hold and has a classic, timeless look – it is the kind of cutlery you might expect to find in any good Italian eatery from Naples to New York.
The Culinario series – comprising five spoons, three forks and two knives – was launched to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Heirol, a Finnish family business that humbly started out in a garage back in 1991. Today it is one of Finland’s leading importers and manufacturers of high-quality kitchen utensils.
Italian inspiration
“The idea behind Culinario originally came from my Italian wife,” reveals Rolf Moborg, CEO of Heirol. “She always complains that Finnish cutlery is too light for eating pasta.”
Moborg decided to address this market gap and make the perfect pasta fork – along with the perfect knife for slicing bistecca and the perfect spoon for enjoying tiramisu. He selected Shangdong-based Dongjin Tableware as Heirol’s contract manufacturer after learning that they source their stainless steel from Finnish Outokumpu. “In a way, Outokumpu is to blame for the birth of Culinario,” he says.
Heirol adapted Dongjin Tableware’s standard concept by adding extra items and modifying the design for a classic ‘old-fashioned’ look. The prototyping took 18 months, but the choice of material was clear from the outset. Dongjin Tableware makes its entire high-end cutlery exclusively from Outokumpu Core 304/4301 due to its outstanding malleability, corrosion resistance and thickness up to 6 millimeter.
Cooking it up with family
“Culinario cutlery looks and feels perfect. The finished surface is of very high quality thanks to the combination of Outokumpu superior material and our professional production process,” says Judy Lin from Dongjin Tableware. “We are very happy with our collaboration with Outokumpu. Their experts visited our factory and gave us advice and technical support.
Core 304/4301 is ideal for cutlery as it combines a good smooth surface with an affordable price,” adds Lin. “Culinario is already attracting interest among restauranteurs. Everyone who holds it in their hands wants it,” says Moborg. “We’re trying to gradually change the way Finnish people think about eating. My wife and I always dine together with our four kids, and our mission is to get Finns to eat together more often and prepare good food together as a family – with good-quality utensils.”