Ivan opened Fonseca Sharpening in Toronto, a business which offered sharpening services and custom made saya (wooden knife sheaths) for professional chefs and home cooks. The success of Fonseca Sharpening caught the eye of fellow chef and knife sharpener Olivia Go, who equally shared Ivan's passion for the exquisite beauty and practicality of Japanese knives. Ivan and Olivia decided to put their entrepreneurial talents together and form a new company called Tosho Knife Arts in order to work directly with the top blacksmiths in Japan.more...See more text
When Chef Olivia Go was completing a high-pressure, fast-paced internship at the three Michelin-star restaurant Per Se in New York, she didn’t want to have any reason to mess up. “I just wanted to have the right tools for my cooking,” Olivia explains. “So I did a lot of research and I learned how to sharpen my knives properly. I started obsessing over different steels and different kinds of knives – mostly Japanese knives.”
Once Olivia returned to her hometown of Toronto, she discovered an increased interest in the craft of knife sharpening by both friends and fellow chefs, so she started a knife skills class at the Kensington Market shop Good Egg. Through class participants, Olivia gained wind of another knife sharpener in the city and was introduced to Chef Ivan Fonseca. “I met him at Sam James and he brought his knives that he uses every day,” Olivia remembers. “He had all different kinds of handles and his knives were spotless and really, really sharp.”
With increased demand from chefs and amateurs alike, Olivia and Ivan joined forces to start a hand knife-sharpening business. They operated out of their homes, and as the business grew to include knife sales, Olivia and Ivan decided to open a storefront in the historic Mirvish Village in 2011 under the name Tosho Knife Arts.
