JA HENCKELS

Originating in Solingen, Germany, the ‘City of Blades’, the JA Henckels company grew out of a knife-making business registered with the Cutlers’ Guild of Solingen by Peter Henckels in 1731. A descendant, Johann Abraham Henckels, opened the company’s rst shop in Berlin in 1818. The brand grew in size and success over the next century and won prizes at the world’s fairs of London and Paris in 1851 and 1855. In 1909 the company opened a US subsidiary and in 1927 a Paris branch. Like other metal-working businesses of the time, it embraced the opportunities of the 1920s and 30s, producing a range of art deco objects – the portable Zeppelin bar set is its most enduring legacy.

ABOVE A Graf Zeppelin flies over a lake in Germany in 1933. LEFT JA Henckels also produced a cocktail shaker modelled on an aeroplane. RIGHT The four giltlined shot glasses and strainer from the JA Henckels Zeppelin cocktail shaker and travelling bar set.