Uhma Kitchen gear - Pieter de Raadtstraat 21A

As long as I can remember the kitchen was a magical place for me. Growing up it was the heart and soul of our home and still I love the alchemy that takes place there. Not only with the food we cook, but also with the people we connect with. Today I still love to cook for the people I love and maybe it is because I am a man, but alongside the passion for good food came the passion for kitchen tools. 

As a former furniture designer the interaction between functionality, aesthetics and build quality has always fascinated me. So when it came to innovation of kitchen tools there was one area that was left far behind. Cutting boards were not seen as a tool, and that hasn't really changed for ages. Strange isn't it? Because it literally plays a central role in the whole cooking process. Organizing the work space, so it supports your workflow, can make a big difference. Especially when there are so many things going on while preparing the foods we love. 

Not just a surface to cut on.

One thing that bothered me was that I never had enough space on my board. Which, by the way, was also heavy to move around easily. Walking back and forth from chopping board to garbage bin can also be very impractical. This got me thinking…. Why not integrate a container in the board to create extra storage space and help with easy transport? What was already on the market, was either impractical or simply too painful to look at. So I set out to design a new cutting board. The goal was to create perfect lines, effortless functionality, using the best materials and craftsmanship.

About the shape

For inspiration I looked again at the lovely Art Nouveau bridges I had seen in Paris. Those beautiful arches, that also provide great structural strength, became the base for the Uhma design. To further perfect all the lines and integrate the functionality took a lot of work. But this development has paid off and led to the board as it is today. Perfect lines and effortless functionality, but also unique and a great eye-catcher in your kitchen

Sustainability

As a lover of nature it was essential that our wood didn’t come from tropical wood, where we could not be 100% sure that our material came from sustainably managed woods. So we chose to use the best sustainable European hardwood money could buy. Walnut.. As walnut grows it traps carbon from the atmosphere (as all trees do) and also provides us with the lovely nuts we enjoy every day. It is only when the tree stops producing nuts, that the wood of the tree is used to make things like Uhma cutting boards. The wood is hard enough to last a lifetime (without dulling your expensive knives) and because of its beautiful structure the aesthetic of Walnut is exceptional. So your Uhma cutting board is not only an eye-catcher in your kitchen, it can be passed on from generation to generation.

Attila van Empel, founder of Uhma kitchen gear.