Jan 23, 2025
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
- By
Hélène Huret
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
Jan 23, 2025
by
Hélène Huret
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
Jan 23, 2025
by
Hélène Huret
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
Jan 23, 2025
- By
Hélène Huret
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
Jan 23, 2025
- By
Hélène Huret
sustainability
Burotatxo : Reviving Mallorca's Knife-Making Tradition
Jan 23, 2025
- By
Hélène Huret
Xavi Verd. Photo: Duncan Kendll
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hile the whole world was in confinement during COVID, Xavi Verd was forging his own destiny. While others were cooking or watching TV series, Xavi started making knives. A dream that turned into a passion. “I'd been wanting to try it for a very long time, he explains, and now I finally had the time to do it”. Alone in his workshop near Santa Eugénia, he threw himself into the adventure. “I love mechanics”, as evidenced by the metal carcasses and the dozen or so bicycles hanging on the walls of his workshop. “I also like working with steel,” he continues. Xavi also made the gate and staircase that lead to the new workshop he is currently fitting out upstairs. “Ever since I was little,” he confides, “I've loved making things with my hands. I inherited it from my grandfather. He was a master gunsmith and worked with steel. He also left me a wooden workbench with a press”. Xavi set off on his own, with the help of the Internet, trying things out, making mistakes and... starting again. “I've thrown away a lot of knives,” he says with a smile.  “If you make a mistake, you can't go back. For example, on a penknife, if I make the hole too high, the knife doesn't close any more.  There's nothing you can do but throw it away and start again”. The proverb ‘practice makes perfect’ has never been so true. 

Photo: Duncan Kendall
Photo: Duncan Kendall
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avi Verd is inspired by Mallorca's long tradition of cutlery-making. Traditionally, cutlers made the tools needed to work the land and the sea. There are seven different types of knives, each linked to a particular trade: the fisherman's knife, the sailor's knife, the shepherd's knife, the pig farmer's knife, the winegrower's knife, etc. The shapes of these knives vary according to their use. “Even today,” says Xavi, “everyone on Mallorca has a knife in their pocket: to cut a rope, a piece of wood or even to slice bread and sobressada for a snack ”. When the island was still rural, there were many workshops. Now, a lot of items are made abroad and just assembled here, and there are very few who do everything from start to finish. “There's Paco Margarit,” says Xavi, “an island knifemaker with international recognition who helps me a lot.”

Xavi makes everything by hand, revisiting the island's knife-making tradition by giving his knives a different style. For example, he makes a shepherd's knife using horn and damascus steel, a technique that consists of superimposing different layers of hammered steel to inlay patterns on the blade. Burotatxo, Xavi's brand, offers two lines of knives: a more accessible line of kitchen knives as well as olive wood penknives with stainless steel blades, and a more professional line where these same knives come with handles combining brass, horn or exotic wood, and feature blades forged from exceptional steels, creating a higher level of sophistication in the finishes. Attracted by Asian cutlery, its shapes and geometry, Xavi has also started making a line of Japanese-style blades. He posts each new knife on Instagram. “I work a lot to order. I have a year's waiting list. There are people who are passionate about knives. One of my customers has a warehouse full of knives. When a good craftsman dies the value of his knives increases.”

“The goal is to have my own style and for people to recognise the knives without seeing the brand. I enjoy this job more every day, the learning curve is endless and I'm always coming up with new ideas. In fact, that's all I've decided to do: being in the workshop makes me happy.”
Photo: Duncan Kendall
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