NORA knives is owned and operated by husband and wife team: Steven & Dani Jenkins. Every NORA knife is handmade by us in our home based shop in Southern California.
We have been making kitchen knives since 2014 and feel incredibly lucky to still be in business and able to do what we love each day. Since our start we have numbered every knife we have made and we are happy to say that as of mid 2017 we are well beyond NORA #1000.
We started NORA because we felt there was a void in the market. We loved the performance of the Japanese knives that we had but they were...plain. Homely, even.
We wanted knives that looked as beautiful as they worked.
From that want, NORA was born. We try to design and create knives that have incredible performance and unique beauty. We believe you shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other.
So...we refinanced our house to help buy equipment and then jumped into making a product we knew very little about. We can't say it was the best way, and the learning curve was steep, but somehow here we are.
We don't design or make one single style blade. We like both modern and rustic, Western and Japanese, classic and weird. Our work is eclectic but as an overriding theme we try to bring a certain beauty to each knife.
The name "NORA" is a nod to my Oklahoma born grandmother. We always wanted a daughter and we had planned to name her Nora. This was not in the cards for us, however, so our business became our third figurative "baby." (We were lucky enough to be blessed with two boys.) One of the finest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing; Nora was graceful but hardy, simple but skilled. She embodies everything we want our knives to be.
We hope you enjoy our knives. We love making them and, even more, we love using them.
- Danielle, Steven, Hank & Huck Jenkins
