Kyocera have recently been awarded the Good Design Award 2001 for its new ceramic knife, "Fine". The award, sponsored by the Japanese Industrial Design organisation, recognises the qualities of the new zirconia bladed knife and its commercial success since the initial launch in September 2001.

The key attributes of the design that attracted the attention of the judges were the “originality” and functionality of the design, coupled with a “design for long term use”.

In the process of developing the new fine ceramic knife "Fine," Kyocera conducted an Internet survey (a random sampling of 620 women aged from 18 to 49 in Japan), and monitored a series of cooking classes to analyse the users' criteria for selecting a knife, their attitude toward cooking, comments and thoughts on the fine ceramic knife.

A cooking specialist, Ms. Junko Takagi, an active contributor to cooking magazines, women's magazines, and TV shows, supervised the assessment testing.

Following the user feedback, the following five points were selected and used in design process as the "new standard" for a fine ceramic knife:

1. Quality

2. Price

3. Feel

4. Design

5. After-service care.

The major benefits of the knife are its comfortable handle design, it also offers lightweight, excellent operability, and a good "fit" so that users do not feel any strain during cutting actions.

There are currently three products in this series: the kitchen knife, the petit knife, and the fruit knife.