Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Assignment: Aztec cutlery by Don Wallance



Many years ago, friends abroad got a Scandinavian cutlery named Aztec as a wedding present.

One knife is now broken, and six dessert spoons missing.

Will I be able to locate the replacements?

Today I visited both Fretex and Masvo here in Moss, rummaging through their baskets with assorted cutlery. If the number of knives, forks , spoons and teaspoons ending up in those shops, can indicate which pieces of cutlery get lost the least, the clear winner would be the forks.
In particular there were very few teaspoons.

At Fretex I found one Aztec knife, but as long as I am looking for the dessert spoons, I may look a little further to find a more perfect specimen.
I discovered that IKEA had made a cutlery with a knife that seems to be inspired by Aztec.
Then I became curious about this cutlery and found that an American designer named Don Wallance had designed the cutlery in 1965 and the Norwegian factory Norstaal had produced it.
What I had thought of as a big teaspoon was called a dessert spoon.
I will also find out if you can buy this cutlery in single pieces, new, and the price.

3 comments:

kjersti said...

Hi! Funny I should find this! I just had dinner eating with Astec cutlery and decided to see if I could find it somewhere. This is my first try though and I do not know if they are still making it or if they have started producing it again.
Please let me know if you have any uck an I shall do the same!
Good luck!
Kjersti

Unknown said...

I, too, am looking for Aztec replacements. My husband and I received the set as a wedding present in 1973 and I still love it. In particular, I need teaspoons and butter knives. Does anyone know where I can find them?

Unknown said...

Oh, found a website where you can order this cutlery from the US: http://www.annarbordinnerware.com/norstaal/n_aztec.htm. I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes.