When husband and wife duo Tina Chon and Craig Field opened Carbon Knife Co they mostly had restaurant customers in mind. They had both just left a stint at Rioja, each one an accomplished career cook. This was back in 2016, when the pair settled on a lovely, if a bit closet-like, space in Rino. Chon and Field agreed that there was an absence of chef-focused stores in town and they wanted to bring a boutique experience to industry folks from bartenders to restaurateurs, with hard-edged knife-cracking chefs smack dab in the middle.
When they moved to their new shop, a bountiful showroom that previously housed the upscale streetwear store Steadbrook, Carbon’s owners didn’t change much. They still offered Japanese wetstone knife sharpening for $2 an inch. Their stock still focused heavily on Japanese knives made with the same kind of high-carbon steel Chon had been cooking with since graduating from Johnson and Wales. They still tailored knives to clients by asking questions and regailing patrons with their blade’s origin stories. The new location opened its doors in April 2024. “We didn’t grow much, we just spread everything out,” laughed Chon, adding that the space had nearly doubled from 600 to 1,200 square feet.
But the space, designed by Kevin Nguyen, began to attract a more mixed clientele, with home chefs noticing the the massive cookbook wall just inside the entrance and oldschool rap blaring from the speakers. Items were spread lavishly, the room more CB2 than Uncut Gems. The matcha sets, truffle slicers, precision tweezers and specialty bar tools that had previously been stacked in the corner now had room to breathe, and glittery-eyed novices could find new passions just as easily as seasoned chefs could locate old faithful. Knives range from a $99 Japanese 8″ chef knife up to more refined models that come in closer to $600.
For Chon and Field, Carbon is just as much about preserving blacksmith culture as it is about providing an excellent product. The pair on a first-name basis with many of their purveyors and travel to Japan once or twice a year to meet new makers and give props to their existing relationships. “We fell in love with it. We share blacksmith stories like a ‘farm-to-table’ thing,” smiled Chon. The shop is meticulously curated, and is inspired by coastal giants like New York’s JB Prince and Los Angeles’ Japanese Knife Imports.
Now Carbon’s customers are a pretty even split of home cooks and industry professionals. Staff is on-hand to gently guide customers, whether they’re smacking their knives for eight hours a day or cooking one meal a week, to their perfect product or complementary sets. “The cutting board should match the knife,” said Chon.
Carbon Knife Co is located at 3151 Larimer Street Suite A, Denver. It is open Monday – Friday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
It is closed Sunday.
All photography courtesy of Craig Field.
