New York artist Jordan LaMothe’s contribution to The Art of Cutlery, a chef knife named “Rift,” on show during summer 2024 in Tribeca, NYC, transforms the concepts of division and separation into a singular, cohesive culinary tool. Forged by hand from homemade carbon damascus steel, the blade features a carved fissure as though caused by a seismic shift; an artistic element which, like forms of compound geometry, can also benefit cutting performance. Beginning with a sculpted integral damascus bolster, the handle’s most prominent rift occurs where a piece of curly acacia wood fills the crevice left by the split between two stretches of camatillo wood. The handle’s butt cap, crafted from the same damascus used in the blade, bares the perpendicular scar of the work’s third fracture. Sharp and precisely hardened at the edge, this knife is made to use.