The Knife Boutique family was created with love, dedication and passion by Gisella Morassut, a woman, entrepreneur, immigrant, wife and new mum. She came across this beautiful business idea whilst travelling, visiting her family and expecting her first baby – working alongside family and friends back home in Argentina: talented artisans who have been designing and creating handmade knives from a young age. Their knife designs make them true jewels in the cutlery market: beautiful, unique, handcrafted pieces that will last for generations. Here, Gisella speaks to the Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind the business, the challenges they have overcome along the way, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I was inspired by the desire to create something different. I was looking for that next step when I found out I was pregnant, and I was ready for a change.
I have always been a big fan of nice products, the ones you really enjoy using.
We all keep quality objects and those with sentimental attachment. The rest, we all get rid of at some point.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
When I initially came up with the idea last year, I was at a market back home in Argentina, visiting my brother-in-law who continues the knife tradition and it got me thinking, “how cool would it be to keep the old school knives alive?!”. This was February 2020, a few days before this “new world” began.
I called my husband Chris, who was visiting his family in Patagonia, and asked him, “what do you think about starting a knife business?”. I felt like I had discovered a treasure right in front of me.
We all grew up around beautiful cutlery, but then I started travelling and I forgot that not everyone in the world is lucky enough to have handmade cutlery and enjoy a home-cooked meal with it.
We started working as a family on this idea: meetings, more meetings, designing, etc.
We came back to New Zealand in May 2020 on a mercy flight (there were no commercial flights) and in our quarantine hotel, we started our business plan. The Knife Boutique was officially born in November 2020 when we first started selling them.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
The biggest breakthrough for me was when I started to realise that our products were really appreciated by others: entrepreneurs, parents, grandparents, even children! They all enjoy and appreciate our cutlery.
Selling our knives for the first time out there and hearing comments like “wow”, “how cool”, “I keep my grandpa knife”, “they look so good”, “congrats” – That was a BIG breakthrough for me!
