They don’t give Oscars for kitchen cutlery, but if they did, Anthony Michael Salerno might be rehearsing his “thank you” speech. As the designer for Edges, the cutlery line of his family’s award-winning Wyckoff-based kitchen design firm, Peter Salerno Inc., he creates knives that pass the ultimate test.
“When you can quickly dice an onion without a tear in your eye,” he says, “you know you’re using a good knife.”
Salerno’s path hasn’t been exactly blade-straight. In college he studied filmmaking and jewelry design; then he joined the family business and helped to design elegant, upscale kitchen cabinetry. He isn’t making movies or jewelry today, but in a way he brings the sensibilities of both arts to the task of designing the finest luxurious custom cutlery for use in home and professional kitchens.
Salerno says he’s been fascinated with knives since he was five years old, when his grandfather gave him a souvenir “Butch Cassidy” novelty blade, a replica of the knife used in the movie, which attracted him with its shininess. And while it may be disturbing to imagine a knife-happy kid of that age, his became a serious interest that went into the making of an artisan.
“In fashioning items for the kitchen you have more creative control than you do in film,” he says, explaining where he’s landed. “And I wanted to use my skills to make something more practical than jewelry. In the showroom, we all cook and bake, and we know the importance of good kitchen tools. That’s how I conceived the idea of making high-quality custom kitchen knives.”
For months he gathered input from dozens of home and restaurant chefs, tapping the best culinary minds for their preferences of size, weight and material. He then collaborated with Aldo Bruno, one of the industry’s most respected knife makers and founder of New Jersey Steel Baron in Hawthorne, to create Edges, which Salerno says “captures the best of European knife styling with the balance and specialized designs of knives from Japan.” His creations are meant to be ergonomic, light and balanced at the ricasso (the unsharpened portion of the blade), giving the feeling that they’re almost an extension of the user’s hand.
Salerno, Bruno and a team of local craftsmen have a hand in the manufacturing of each knife, and they’re all constructed of stainless and high-carbon steels made in the United States. Each one comes with a certificate of authenticity and Salerno’s signature mark as well as a leather sheath hand-stitched by leather artisan Wilfredo Ramos of Bergenfield.
“That certifies that the knives are completed by skilled custom makers who take pride in their work,” he says. “They’re not part of the assembly lines that make the knives found in large retail stores.” In many cases, he adds, those mass manufacturers cut corners in design and materials, using inferior-quality steel. Even heft, of course, doesn’t redeem a product that can’t cut it. “A knife can feel good in the hand,” says Salerno, “but if it doesn’t perform, it’s not worth it.”
The first line of Edges knives, completed last fall, includes the Monarch, Sovereign and Shogun chef knives, as well as Santoku, utility, paring and bread knives. They’re all are currently available at the Peter Salerno Inc. showroom or by phone and email—an online catalog is planned. Prices range from $225 for the popular Steward paring knife to $1,200 for the Sovereign.
Salerno’s favorite is the $750 Monarch, he says, but the prototype he once owned is no longer his. “My wife took it, so I got another,” he says. “We have ‘his and hers’ chef knives.”