Are you ready to up your kitchen game? Look no further than Element Knife Company, the chef-owned and chef-driven company that offers high-end cutlery, sharpening services, and accessories for both home and professional chefs. The one-man brand just relocated from Stanley Marketplace to a bigger new shop on Platte Street in the Highlands, just down the block from My Brother’s Bar.
Founded in 2010 by chef Elan Wenzel, Element Knife Company has curated a collection of German and Japanese knives—the kind Wenzel used when he was in the kitchen at renowned restaurants like Wolfgang Puck and Sushi Sasa. With over two decades of experience in the culinary industry and a passion for knives and kitchen tools, Wenzel has traveled the globe to find the best products for his customers. He believes that the quality of your tools should match the depth of your enthusiasm for cooking. And that’s why he is enthusiastic about providing support, education, and the best products to ensure that your time in the kitchen is a joy, not a chore.
On his origin story: “I’m a chef by trade— classically French trained, then I fell into sushi and did a three-year apprenticeship in Japan. I always loved knives, always saving up my pennies to buy more knives to try, always asking other chefs, ‘What are you using, why are you using that? Why do you like this handle versus that one, why this brand instead of that?’ Because at a glance, two knives can look the same. But when you hold them and use them, there are noticeable differences. And when I fell into sushi, it was a love affair all over again, because I had never seen Japanese knives. I got into selling knives a little by accident—first as a favor to a friend, which turned into a little bit of a hobby, turned side hustle, turned business, turned retail shop. And now here we are.”
On the knives: “There’s a difference between a cheap knife and an affordable knife. I don’t carry cheap stuff. But I do have affordable things. You can get a really good Japanese knife starting at around 80 bucks, and they go all the way up to $3,000.”
On the cost: “Carbon steel or stainless steel—that’s not what drives the cost. It’s the amount of labor, the craftsmanship. A quality knife is the last knife you’ll ever buy.”
On the move: “Our new shop is in a great neighborhood, it’s the right size, the right price. This is a place where I can do all the things I want to do for the community. In the back corner, we have space for a demo station where we’ll have a good representation of the knives we carry so that people can try them out, chop some carrots, do some sharpening, see the equipment. By night, it will be a content creation stage where I’ll teach skills classes.”
On community support: “Every knife that we sell in the shop comes with a coupon for one free sharpening, just because we like people. We want people to feel good when they shop with us. And to my knowledge, we offer the deepest industry discounts—15% off across the board for repairs, sharpening, anything they want to buy. I also offer free sharpening lessons to industry people who want to learn how to use sharpening stones.”
On his mindset: “I’m not a businessman; I’m just a chef who had a dream and decided to go for it.”
