ZIKICO (Jikico) is cutlery made from the mineral zirconia that doesn't alter the taste of food.

These days, convenient cooking appliances and ingredients from all over the country are easy to come by, so we can enjoy restaurant-quality cooking even at home. When we put our skills to work in the kitchen, we like to pay attention to the tableware too, enjoying a restaurant-like presentation. On top of that, we'd like to introduce a piece of cutlery we came across that lets you savor the true taste of your ingredients and dishes without altering them. How did this cutlery come to be?

Taste is made up of sweetness, saltiness, bitterness, sourness, and umami. Amino acids, the components responsible for umami, are themselves rich in flavor. Dashi stock and soups, the foundation of many dishes, are packed with amino acids, which is apparently why we find them so delicious. Stainless steel cutlery, however—despite being widely used at Japanese tables set with all kinds of Japanese and Western dishes—is actually a material that makes umami hard to perceive. You may recognize this from everyday experience: perhaps you've felt a shiver run through you when a stainless steel spoon or fork scraped against your teeth, or noticed a metallic smell in food that had touched canned goods or metal. This happens because metal breaks down lipids through oxidation, producing a metallic odor and altering the flavor.

Zirconia is a material derived from a mineral that is odorless, tasteless, and free of any metallic smell. Zirconia has existed on Earth since ancient times, and it's gentle on the body while being both hard and resilient. It has, for example, long been used in medical applications such as implants and artificial joints. In the fashion world, too, brands like Chanel, Cartier, and Rolex use it as a material for watch bands. Unlike metal, it doesn't rust, and unlike plastic, it doesn't degrade over time. It's a material that has attracted attention and is being put to use precisely because it can last for so long.

We spoke with Yamase-san, the third-generation head of a precision resin parts manufacturer and representative of ZIKICO Co., Ltd., about what led to the creation of ZIKICO, cutlery made from zirconia—this mineral that most people have never even heard of.

Q. What made you decide to create this kind of cutlery?

It started when I was living in Germany and had the opportunity to serve Japanese food to people. I made mentsuyu dipping sauce for soba, and it had no taste. It had aroma, but no flavor. When I licked the sauce directly off the plate I could taste it, but when I used a metal spoon to taste it, I noticed that even a small amount of flavor disappeared. When I looked into why, I found that it was because metal breaks down lipids through oxidation, producing a metallic odor. Zirconia, being a ceramic material just like porcelain, never leaches metal ions, so I thought that many people would be happy to have a spoon that could truly convey the flavor of a dish. Wanting people to experience the world of flavor that ingredients create on a deeper level, I decided to make cutlery from zirconia ceramics.

Zirconia is produced by refining a mineral called zircon, which originates in Australia. Zircon itself was once used as an imitation diamond. When heated, it becomes transparent, and its refractive index becomes almost identical to that of diamond.

Q. Since your company originally manufactured precision resin parts, was it technically easy for you to make cutlery?

Because our previous company manufactured parts using injection molding, we had the technical ability to shape zirconia, which is difficult to process. However, when we applied plastic molding methods—designed for mass production—to zirconia, controlling the flow of material into the mold proved difficult, and we couldn't get good results. So at ZIKICO , we approached the technique anew, treating it more like a craft. Normally, multiple products are made from a single mold at once, but we chose to make just one at a time and lengthened the processing time to solve the problem. We also decided not to install machinery that automatically releases products from the mold, since that would leave marks on the product, and instead we remove each piece by hand, one at a time.

Making the product begins with melting the raw material.

The melted material is injection-molded, then placed in a kiln for bisque firing, where the plastic is vaporized away, leaving only zirconia behind.

Through sintering, the zirconia's gaps disappear and the finished piece becomes noticeably smaller. (In the photo above, the piece on the left is before sintering, and the one on the right is after.)

The piece that comes out of the firing kiln is then blast-finished to smooth the surface, completing the process.

The thin spoon has a delicate feel and a pleasant texture against the tongue. You can also feel that it has less of a hard, rigid sensation when you put it in your mouth.

This is how the zirconia cutlery came to be completed. Considering the balance with the head portion, the handle was made from a lightweight material.

It's PPS resin. It's a resin with high heat resistance and chemical resistance, also used in aerospace applications. It can withstand temperatures up to 260°C, so it's fine to dip it into tempura oil. It's also completely unaffected by acids or alkalis. We chose it as a material worthy of pairing with body-friendly zirconia meant to be used for a long time. We also gave the handle a rounded shape inspired by chopsticks, making it comfortable to hold.

With that in mind, we tried scooping up some umami-rich soup with the spoon right away.

With the white spoon, we could clearly see the color of the soup. We also compared the taste using stainless steel cutlery, and indeed, with the ZIKICO spoon we could clearly taste the umami. What's more, just like with a wooden spoon, the spoon itself didn't get hot, which made it comfortable to drink from.

The design was handled by product designer Masanori Oji. Visually, it was decided to make the most of the fact that the material is a mineral, finishing it to look like "stone." This gives the pieces a natural quality, softly reflecting light and creating a calm atmosphere at the table. He was also asked to design with a gentle form that expresses another idea: "purity."

For example, the knife takes advantage of the fact that its center of gravity sits toward the tip, curving it in the opposite direction from an ordinary knife so that the blade naturally angles downward. The fork has a rounded cross-section that creates a gentle form, while leaving an edge only at the very tip so that food can be speared easily. The spoons are divided from the start into a dinner spoon for solid food and a soup spoon for liquids; the dinner spoon has a distinctive flat shape. It was designed with the idea that it could be used for foods that people previously ate with a Chinese soup spoon, making it very easy to eat with. It also resembles a fish knife, and in America it's recommended for fish or dessert use as well. The dessert spoon, too, was made in a size unlike any other. Since it's an all-purpose size, we hope you'll try it.

This is cutlery in which every detail, down to the smallest part, has been carefully considered. Because it lets you truly taste the flavor of your ingredients, we'd like people who cook with an emphasis on flavor to try using it.

 Q. With what kinds of dishes is the difference easiest to notice?

The difference in taste is especially noticeable with the flavor of amino acids, which are umami components. In Japanese cuisine, that means dashi; in French cuisine, things like fond de veau or fumet de poisson. The taste of foods centered on protein as a nutrient—jelly, tofu, eggs, yogurt, and the like—is also easy to tell apart.
Japanese chefs use small sake cups rather than ladles or metal spoons when tasting their dishes, and apparently in France there's also a manner of not using metal cutlery with caviar or egg dishes. We wanted to create something that lets people enjoy the flavor of a dish exactly as it was cooked.
Metal produces a metallic smell from saliva through an oxidation effect. This effect is especially strong when eating something refreshing, like fruit. Ingredients that farmers have carefully grown through organic farming methods deserve to be savored with care. We'd love for people to discover the true flavor of their food using ZIKICO cutlery.
Because it lets you taste the flavor of ingredients more strongly, even dishes made with less salt or fewer chemical seasonings become delicious. We believe this can also contribute to better health.

We tried the cutlery ourselves right away. The spoon is thin and feels pleasant against the lips, and when we ate melting ice cream or soup with it, we really noticed a difference in flavor. (The ice cream eaten with the dessert spoon was especially delicious.) Held near the blade, the knife had enough sharpness to peel an orange. The handle is also light and shaped to be easy to hold, which we think makes it comfortable for people of all ages to use. It's on a completely different level from cheap all-stainless-steel cutlery.

Q. Cutlery this dedicated to flavor seems like it would already be used in restaurants.

In Tokyo, it's used at Nanzenji Hyotei in Hibiya. It's a sister restaurant to the ryotei of the same name in Kyoto, and it's a restaurant that uses traditional tableware with historical and cultural value. Previously, to avoid the taste and texture of metal, they used urushi (Japanese lacquer) spoons, but these apparently were difficult to eat with. We're glad to hear that by switching to ZIKICO cutlery, it's become easier for guests to use.
It's also gradually spreading to other places, including hotels and restaurants such as the Peninsula Tokyo, as well as bars and dining establishments where chefs place a strong emphasis on flavor and have taken a liking to it. Little by little, more people are coming to appreciate its qualities and use it.

Q. Does it get stained by things like curry?
Color won't soak into it, but it can develop tea stains. If this bothers you, you can bleach it or wash it with a cleanser.

Q. Will it break if I drop it?
Simply dropping it won't break it. As long as you use it normally, it won't get damaged. Please just use it as ordinary cutlery without worrying too much. That said, if you stab it into rock-hard frozen ice cream and use it as a lever to bend it, whereas a metal piece would bend, a zirconia piece will snap. A bent piece of metal cutlery can be straightened and used again, but a broken zirconia piece cannot.

Q. Is there anything I should be careful of when caring for it?
On the white model, strong friction against metal can leave metal marks. If this bothers you, you can remove them with a cleanser. On the black model, water stains and oil residue tend to stand out more. For these too, washing with a cleanser is the easiest solution.

ZIKICO, which won Germany's iF Design Award and Italy's A' Design Award (Gold) in 2019. By bringing zirconia into everyday tableware, it helps people focus on the flavor of their food and eliminates effects such as metal allergies—cutlery that seems built to last for the next hundred years.

ZIKICO is cutlery for everyday meals that has no effect whatsoever on the human body—safe and reassuring. And it's cutlery meant to let you properly savor food that's been deliciously prepared. Though it looks like an industrial product, it turns out to be handmade. What we felt in ZIKICO's products—warmth as well as the gentleness of the material—comes, we think, from that very craftsmanship.

▷See the full lineup of ZIKICO products here