Masaaki Saito

Masaaki is an artisan bladesmith with 30 years of experience handling knives. Before moving to Australia, Masaaki was a Tokyo trained sushi chef and worked in Japan's top class sushi restaurants for many years. Through his work, Masaaki has used all types of Japanese knives and has gained knowledge of how to handle and care for them.

As beautiful as his pieces are, Masaaki believes that knives are tools for daily life, not art to be left on a wall. They need to be crafted with care and properly sharpened to maintain their performance. His knives are made to work hard across a lifetime. Masaaki has gained a reputation throughout the professional chef community across Brisbane and Northern Rivers as a skilled knife sharpener and craftsman.

We had the pleasure of working with Masaaki to design these knives exclusively for OKAERI. All of his knives in our collection have stainless steel blades and feature handcrafted handles from locally sourced timber. 

Masaaki also offers his professional knife sharpening services Australia-wide with home pick up and delivery available between Brisbane and Northern Rivers. You can learn more about Masaaki and his craft here.