Alex Pole For L'Enclume
As part of our ongoing 20th-anniversary celebrations for L'Enclume, we commissioned a bespoke cutlery collection of timeless pieces to commemorate this milestone.
We wanted to honour the history of the building, L'Enclume, French for “the anvil”) is located in a 13th century blacksmith. We approached the extremely talented blacksmith Alex Pole, who uses traditional techniques and forges all pieces by hand whilst sourcing all materials from the local area. Sharing all the principles that remain at the core of what we do at our restaurants.
The process started two years ago with the design concept and the development of a range of bespoke samples, starting with various textures, shapes and sizes. Over six months of further conceptual design work and experimentation went into the finer details of the range, including how the pieces looked, weighed, felt in the mouth and rested on the table in our restaurant.
The final designs were decided upon; a hexagonal, flat and round handle shape in two sizes - 22 designs in total. Production began in early 2022 for 50 of each piece, with every item in the range taking just over an hour to create. In total, over 1,100 carefully hand-forged pieces have been created bespoke for L’Enclume’s guests to enjoy.
The cutlery collection was delivered to L'Enclume this summer. Watch the video for a glimpse behind the scenes of this unique collaboration.
“It’s been both an honour and privilege for us to have the opportunity to be involved in such a unique project. Seeing the range in the restaurant is a very special day for all! We hope you enjoy sharing the story as much as we have enjoyed developing the range with Simon and his team.” - Alex Pole
Video by: Cristian Barnett
